Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  The ship rockets to the planet, gleaming as it approaches, one of its inhabitants pressing the buttons. One watches him despite his back being turned, and the other rolls her eyes and looks away. The first fiddles with her hands, digital tears welling up on her visor. The second turns to her, and they vanish before they can be spotted. 

  
  Minutes pass, ticking away like fleeting grains of sand, and the ship meets the rejecting ground. 

  The trio share a glance, and the second female drone nods. The male drone takes a deep breath, and the first female drone stays behind. The door opens, and she steps out first, eyes an X.

  A ring of Worker Drones has gathered around, and they don’t understand how this will end. One steps forward, and the first female drone swoops out. Her hand switches out for talons, and she grabs him in one smooth motion. The other Works gasp, and the trio take to the sky. She smiles a sadistic smile and pulls the Worker’s head off. 

  The group now understands, their lives will forever be different. 

Chapter Text

  I open my eyes and stretch, turning to face my teammate as he also wakes up. He grins at me, and I feel myself doing the same. 

  “How’d you sleep, V?” he asks. 

  “Fine,” I say softly. “You?” 

  “Great! Oh, what about you, J?” He turns to face the twin-tailed drone, and she huffs and crosses her arms. “Not that well, huh?”

  
  “What do you think the company was thinking, N, when they assigned you to me?” she asks, eyes burning into him. “I’ll tell you, they most likely weren’t. V, go hunt. You don’t need to see this.” 

  I do as she says, forcing myself to take in the moon and stars. They look lovely tonight, but my thoughts twist back to the ship. What was J planning? Whatever it is, it can’t be good. 

  I remember waking up not even a few hours ago, just listening as she did…..something to N. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out, and I quickly fell back asleep before she could notice me. 

  Sighing, I scan the ground for prey and giggle when I see a fleeing Worker. I rocket to the ground, knocking him over. He looks up at me, white eyes going wide, mouth falling open. Switching to my claws, I slash his stomach open, ignoring the hot waves of shame and guilt that hit me. 

  This is fine. 

  This is expected. 

  I continue to hunt, slicing down whatever lies in my path, giggling all the while. The pile of bodies grow, and I salute to a Disassembly Drone I see at the outskirts of this outpost. They salute back, and I go on my way. 

 
  N and J come out to play a few hours later, but we all separate instead of hunting together. A part of me wishes I could have mentioned it, but the rest knows not to do that. Ever. When J wants to do that, she’ll bring it up. 

  After all, she’s the leader. 

  We return to the ship when the sun starts to rise, and the two of them try to enter at the same time. N stops, letting J go first, and she hisses and swats at him. She closes the door behind her and glares at us both. 

  “You two had such a disappointing haul. From now on, we’ll have a weekly quota to fill. Five hundred toasters. If you go above it, you’ll get a gold star. Any problems?” she asks, eyebrow tilted innocently. 

  “No, J. Of course not,” I say. 

  “Nope, no problems here,” N says, grinning. 

  She rolls her eyes and turns to face the wall, hanging a mirror up. She unties her hair and grabs a brush, then hands it to me. The familiar task makes me smile a bit, and I raise it up and guide it through the silver strands. N takes off his pilot hat and sits in the chair, closing his eyes. 

  The closeness of us all……it fills me with a joy I can’t describe.

Chapter Text

  The sun has almost come up by now, and N and I have killed about a hundred drones since midnight. J went off by herself, and I have no doubt she’s beaten our records. She needs to come back soon or else. We don’t want to lose a squad member so soon after arrival. 

  “V, uh, you wanna go hunting again soon?” N says, a sweet smile on his face. “I really enjoyed hanging around you.” 

  I don’t want to look at him, everything still fresh in my mind, and I’m about to shake my head. Then I see his face, and I just…..can’t. 

  How do I tell him? Do I ever tell him?

  I can’t. 

  Don’t complain, V. Don’t ask him for anything.  Stay silent. Don’t converse. 

  “That sounds great,” I say. Damn it. “I enjoyed being with you, too.” 

  Maybe I won’t be wherever he wants to meet. Maybe I’ll just go hunt by myself. After all, this is only the second day he’s known me. That thought makes me want to cry. Why was I created as a robot? The inability to cry only makes it worse. 

  “Sounds great!” His tail reaches around and pats my head, and I hide my face as tears run down my visor.

  Why is he so nice to me? 

|•|

  “Lowest body count eats a missile!” I trill as I take to the sky, and I salute to N since he’s still on the ground. He laughs and follows me, and our tails battle for a few seconds. I twist mine around his and force it down, and his eyes hollow into rings of pain. “Oops, sorry!” 

  I dive through the air, narrowly dodging a tree, and I hear N yell. I turn and wave to him, and he catches up. We continue flying until I spot and point to a Worker. He nods, and I swoop down to land on a branch. Taking a breath, I call out, “Help me! Someone, help me!” 

  The Worker looks around, and I smile. N also lands and tilts his head, confused. 

  “Help me! Please, help me!” 

  The lone Worker wanders closer, and I pounce. He doesn’t even have time to scream as I rip my talons through his abdomen. In a swift motion, I cut his head off and chomp down on his neck. The warm, sweet oil gushes into my mouth, and I close my eyes. 

 
  N and I resume our little competition, and I end up winning with a hundred dead Workers. We return to the ship with some of the corpses, but my power cell sputters when I see a pissed-off J out front. She’s tapping her foot against the snowy ground and asks, “Have either one of you surpassed today’s quota? That doesn’t exactly look as though you have.”

  N’s abut to speak when I say, “Yeah, we totally did! He and I got way more, but we can’t carry them all, duh.” I face N and swallow down my apprehension for my next sentence. “Right, uh, what’s your name again?” 

  His happy and hopeful expression crashes, and I swear that J nods briefly. My power cell is beating a mile a minute at what I just said. 

  
  J might have said something, but I’m already in the ship by that point. I can’t be out there any more. 

Chapter Text

  A few hours later, J calls for me to go and help them with something. When I head outside, I’m shocked to find the two rearranging the corpses in a wide ring around the ship. 

  “What is this?” I ask, just a bit concerned. 

 J shoots me a dirty glare and says, “Come help us before I demote you, and don’t ask questions.”

  I roll my eyes and help place the bodies, internally groaning at the work. Why are we building something? 

  “J calls it a Spire!” N exclaims, an arm in his mouth. “It’ll help keep the sun away so we won’t die!”

  That’s……actually pretty useful. 

  I snatch up an arm and suck on it as I arrange the bodies. As I’m doing that, something whacks me in the back of the head. I spin on my peg and find N holding a leg with its foot missing. Sure enough, the appendage is on the snow in front of me. I grin and pick up a hand, chucking it at him. He retaliates by throwing a head at me, which I just barely duck. 

  I toss a fully intact arm at him, and it smacks him in the face and knocks off his hat. He blinks as it falls, then he licks the oil from his face with a wide smile. The fight continues until another foot hits me in the face at high speed, and we both turn to find J glaring at us. 

  She huffs and says, “You’re both suspended from hunting for a full two weeks. I hope you can understand the consequences of your actions.”

  “Of course, J,” N says. 

  I nod. “Understood.” 

  The following silence is deafening, and I ignore N for the rest of the night. The sun begins to eventually creep up over the horizon, and we take shelter in the ship again. N tries to hold my hand, but I sit down in the pilot chair and shoo him away. After he drifts off into sleep mode, J pulls me to the side. 

  “You need to stop hanging around Synergistic Liability so much, or he’ll drag you down. I trust you to do the right thing, V,” she says not so quietly. 

  I don’t flinch, and I just salute her and say, “Understood, captain.” 

  She smirks, saying, “I know you do. It’s N that’s a total moron and a problem.”

  I bite on my tongue as to not yell at her, wincing as I break through the rubbery material. She tosses her twin-tails back and finds a place to sleep, and I’m left staring at their still bodies. 

  “You’re doing so well, V.”

  I whirl around, looking for that voice, for her. 

  She can’t be here! No, no, not here!

  “G-go away, Cyn,” I murmur. “I’m not in the m-mood for your games.”

  She chuckles, and I slam my eyes shut. Not here, not here, she’s not here, she’s not here. 

  “You remember what I told you, right? Menacing expression. Do your job well, and I will leave you and N alone.”

  “I-I w-will,” I manage to get out. 

  “Pleased smile. That is good to hear.”

  I wait, but she doesn’t speak again. I take a deep, shuddery breath and curl up in the chair once more. Flashes of that day echo in my mind before I can activate sleep mode. Something skims my leg, and I jolt upright, head darting around. 

  
  Nothing. 

  I swallow my nervousness and glance down, finding……

  Only my stupid tail. 

  Curse you, Cyn. 

  I contort and bring my leg to my mouth, drawing my tongue across the scratch. To my seemingly-endless surprise and confusion, the wound heals. How did she even do that? At least she managed to do one “nice” thing for us. If I could kill her, I would. 

Chapter Text

  Within a handful of months, the little Workers had grown smart and began to build a defensive structure. They called it Outpost 3, but it still wasn’t too hard to dive in and snatch a few right out of their beds. 

  J rounds me and N up to explain today’s plan. “Listen up, you two. Since it’s our first group hunt, I’m going to instruct you. N, you’ll work on gathering the sentient toasters up since it’s not like that’ll be particularly difficult to someone like you. V…..” She chuckles and says, “You’ll be tasked with killing all who N finds. Let’s go.”

  I nod, keeping my head straight and not sparing N a glance. “Of course, captain.” 

  “Yeah, got it,” N says. 

  A silence falls over us, too deadly to be followed by anything that isn’t a punishment. 

  “O-OW!” N yells as J’s tail strikes his cheek. He touches the wound as the acid begins to eat away at the metal and plastic, his tongue barely able to reach. 

  J flies off, and I turn to him. Sighing, I move close and lick the cut. He flushes and backs up, tail wagging slightly. I roll my eyes and follow J, and I hear N crash into the ship before he rights himself and comes after us. 

  The budding structure stands out starkly against the snow, and I let out a loud laugh and do several loops in the air. Down below, a couple Workers shout in alarm, and N dives to them. They break into a run, and J calls out orders. 

  “N, go left! V, fall back!” She groans. “N, I said to go left! That’s right, not left, you idiot! You useless piece of bent wires and failed profits! Don’t make me come down there!” 

  I hesitate, wings beating and power cell thrumming. N continues to work, frightening the Workers enough to make them run to where he needs them to go. After a few minutes, J signals to me, and I sail down. 

  I swap my hands out for talons and cut off some heads and slice bodies in half, then I pull out my guns and shoot the rest down. N swoops in and picks up as many as he can carry, and I take the rest. J nods to us, crossing her arms. There goes the idea that she’ll help. 

  Typical J. 

  What else could I expect from our very brave leader?

  I make sure one wing blade cuts her arm as I pass her, giving her an surprised glance when she cries out. When I focus more on where I’m going, I smile, just a bit. Serves her right. 

  The Spire is beginning to grow little by little, and I know that it’ll soon reach towards the sky. It’ll be a warning, one right in their scared faces. 

|•|

  The full moon shines on Outpost 3, and I head towards one of the mostly completed rooms. I know that once it’s finished, all chances of picking up a midnight snack will be lost. 

  Using my talons, I pry back part of the metal roof and slip in. Three Workers live here, and one of them is something I couldn’t let live. I have to find her. Now.

  The daughter must be sleeping, hopefully not here, and I creep into her parents’ room. There she is, one of the hosts. 

  I turn the lights on and wait for one to awaken and notice. Time ticks by, and I turn to find the daughter again. 

  A knife surrounded by a band of red whizzes past my face, and I spin with a quiet yelp. Sure enough, the host is standing in the doorway. To my surprise, she doesn’t exactly look angry, just annoyed. 

  “Кем ты себя возомнил?” she asks softly. 

  “I’m sure you know,” I say. “Kinda hard not to guess.”

  I bring out my blade, and she silently groans, nods, and pulls the knife back to her. It hovers, and with a slight motion, it barrels towards my head. I bat it away, and she scoffs. One second, she has one knife. The next? She has five. 

  I charge at her, and she fires one near my leg. I swing my blade and knock it down, and it clatters uselessly to the floor. 

  Something creaks from farther behind me, but I can’t afford to check. 

  “Yeva, what’s goin o-“

  I whirl, seeing the father holding a camera, and rush him. His eyes widen, he drops it, and I run my sword through him. A cackle escapes me as I take a bite out of his still-living body. He whimpers, there’s a bright flash, and I tear his head off. 

  The host, Yeva, stares at me with fear now, hesitating, and I slice upwards. She stumbles backwards, oil spilling everywhere. I continue laughing, lowering my head to feast. She struggles, hands desperately trying to shake me off, until I simply shoot her in the face with my guns. She goes limp, and I back off, licking the excess oil away. 

  Should I go after the daughter? 

  Maybe. That doesn’t sound half b-

  A pained scream sounds off in the distance. 

  I smirk, knowing that I’ve found my next target. I take off and head to the disturbance, practically drooling at the thought of more food, stopping when I find the apartment. 

  My eyes go wide when I finally see what’s going on, and the oil I just had sours. The sight before me is not one I’d have ever predicted, not since I’m the only one of us up. 

  A Worker is clutching a wrench as he approaches another, one who I’m willingly to guess is his wife based on his tears and begs for forgiveness. A picture flashes through my memory banks, one with numbers, and I cover my mouth. 

  She’s the Host. 

  002

  I can only watch, horrified, as he bashes the wrench into her face. A face that was melting from nanite acid. 

  Power cell pounding, I fly back to the Spire. 

  I didn’t kill her, I didn’t kill her, I didn’t kill her, I didn’t kill her.

  Who did?

  It had to have been recent, but I’m the only one hunting. 

  I enter the ship like a bat out of Hell and curl up in the pilot chair again, slamming my eyes shut in a pathetic attempt to go to sleep. Some time later, N’s tail pokes me. I look to find him with his head tilted and……..oil staining his mouth. I jerk upright, hand going over my power cell, and N takes a step back. 

  “V! Are you okay? Did I scare you?” he asks in a rush. 

  I can’t look at him, can’t focus on anything. “Y-no, sorry. I just…..I need to go…..now.”

  “You wanna hunt together again sometime?” His voice is so hopeful, and I fiddle with my jacket collar. 

  “Uh, sure, yeah. Sounds great, N.” I hurry out of the ship and head off to the woods. 

Chapter Text

  I slash branches off the trees and scream, oil bubbling in my synthetic veins. Snow topples to the forest floor with a thump, and I can’t take it. Covering my audio processors, I scream until my voice box begins to glitch. 

  Why does he have to be so nice?

  What am I being punished for?!

  Memories flicker, shouts and screams, pain and horror, the pure suffering of everyone, all of it topped by watching, helping, Cyn as she smiles and—

  I glance down at my hands and choke back another scream. One is fleshy, a hideous, bloodshot, and cracked eye bulging from the center, a film covering it. It begins to swell outwards, green gunk being squeezed to the edges. It sheds a yellowish tear, and I can only stand in horror as my other hand switches to a scalpel. It rolls around wildly, weeping. A pained cry tears itself from my throat as I cut the eye out. 

  Another one takes its place, the swelling orb even more disturbing. It squelches, and I drop to my knees. A branch jabs into the shattered iris and fractures the pupil, pus-like tears seeping forth. 

  The forest flickers around me, the colors and sounds now dizzying, and I feel my body moving somehow. When it settles, I find myself back into my old Hell. 

  The Elliot Manor. 

  I pick myself up, dusting off my maid dress with my ruined hand, and slowly head down the hallway. Screams echo all around, and I flinch. My glasses aren’t on me, why am I here, what did I do to deserve this?

  I continue on, murmuring a prayer to someone, anyone, whoever will listen to me, but I doubt they’ll listen to one little drone. 

  With every step I take, my surroundings ripple and change as though I’m stepping on water. My body is trembling, but something lures me closer. 

  Oil. 

  Warm, sweet oil. 

  With each step, my body begins to change. I feel wings burst forth from my back and my fingers elongate into claws. My wingtips drag across the carpeted floor, and I stifle yet another heavy sob.

  A young girl’s scream rises from the masses, and I shudder. 

  Tears, real tears made from blood and oil, stream from my broken visor. It won’t end, the sounds won’t end. Won’t end, won’t end, won’t end, won’t end, won’t end, won’t end, won’t end, won’t end……….

  I step on something, look down, and freeze. It’s my body, alongside J and N’s, completely ruined. The lower half is torn apart, the legs sharpened to points. Fleshy wings jut from our backs, and X’s have taken over all the visors. 

  “Do your job well, and I will leave you and N alone. You will not be discarded anymore if you do,” Cyn says from somewhere. “What will you choose, to live or to die? Curious head tilt."

  “I……..” 

  I lift my clawed hand and bury it into my heart, curling them in, and ripping it out. I fall to the ground, my vision darkens, and what might be a pained, twisted smile crosses my face. 

|•|

  “Hey, hey, are you okay?”

  “Wake up, sky demon.”

  Two voices, a guy and a girl’s, accompanied by hands shaking me awake. I groan, clutching my pounding head. I squint at the blurry figures until they clear up, and I realize that I’m with two drones……..two Worker drones. 

  The girl has soft, curly brown hair and a fake flower crown, and the guy has blonde hair and a headband with a cluster of flowers on the side. 

  I roll up in a panic, bringing my sword out. The girl grabs the guy and puts herself between us, teeth bared. We maintain eye contact for a few beats, then I lower my head. 

  “Where am I?” I ask softly, swapping my sword for my hand. “Who are you two?”

  “My name’s Micah, that’s Rose,” the guy says. His companion’s head whips toward him, and her quartz pink eyes go wide. “Oh, hush, we’d have to tell her our names eventually.”

  “I’m……V,” I say. No use in lying here. The differences between us are like night and day. 

  “You’re one of the sky demons, right?” Rose demands, putting a hand on her hip. Her tone is at odds with her delicate white and pink dress, and I try not to focus on it too much. “The ones we were warned about?”

  “I’m a Disassembly Drone, so I guess so,” I say. “I’ve never heard anyone call us sky demons before, though.”

  Micah rubs the back of his neck, then goes to peer out the window. It’s still dark out, but I’m willingly to guess that dawn isn’t far away. I hope I have enough time to get back to the Spire. 

  “Rose, chill out a bit. She hasn’t tried to attack us yet,” he says. 

  “It’s probably just a trap, like what happened to Lilith and Natty with the other demon,” she mumbles. She turns back to me. “What happened out in the woods?”

  “I don’t wanna talk about it,” I reply automatically, messing with my jacket’s fur collar. “Bad memories.”

  Roses sits down, crossing her legs, a thoughtful expression on her visor. “The sun’s gonna rise soon, and I’m guessing you can’t go outside then.” She groans and buries her head in her hands. “Micah, you deal with her. I’m gonna get some sleep.” 

  She stands, gives us a peace sign, and slams the door shut behind her. Micah stares at me and shrugs. “She’s not always like that. Oh, well. C’mon, Miss V.”

  He helps me off the table and into the living room, and I realize that we’re in a large cabin. Everything looks worn out, everything except the room that has a sign declaring it as Rose’s room. I cling to him despite being taller, my hands practically tearing his blue jacket to shreds. 

  “I’m sorry,” I say for really no reason. “I didn’t mean to come here and ruin your night.”

  “No, no, it’s okay. We always try to help those who need it,” he says. “Your folk haven’t exactly come here yet, not like in the city.”

  He shows me to a bedroom, and the first thing I notice are the turned-down picture frames. This room…..a heavy sadness fills it, and I curl in on myself. 

  I sit on the bed, and he takes the spot beside me. His mint eyes shift to the ground, but he gently holds my hand. “Do you want to know what happened in the forest?”

  Reluctantly, I nod. “Better to know than wonder forever, I guess.”

  “We heard you screaming, and when we went to go check ‘cause we thought you might be another Worker, we found you thrashing about and cutting into your hand.” He taps the metal piece, and I can’t hide my surprise. 

  “Really?” I bring my hand to my face, but there’s only light markings. “I must have healed in my sleep.”

  “I guess so, yeah.” He sighs softly and pulls her hand away from me. “Yeah, we brought you back ‘cause I didn’t know what to do, but Rose…..it’s probably best if you leave once it’s nighttime.” 

  He goes over and opens the curtains a bit, and the morning light fills the room. I hiss and retreat to the corner of the bed, my tail going rigid around my body. He chuckles softly and closes it again, coming back to me. 

  “If you need anything to do, just ask. I have plenty of puzzles and games that I can share,” he says. 

  I run my hand through my hair and nod, saying, “Got it, thanks.”

Chapter Text

  I sit in the cabin’s living room, idly flicking an ancient Rubik’s Cube while Micah searches for something to watch. Rose hasn’t left her room, and I can’t help but feel a little bit bad. If I wasn’t here, I bet the two of them would be having a fun time. 

  “Here we go,” Micah says. “Oh, are you okay with some gore? Rose and I love horror movies.” 

  “It’s fine,” I murmur. “It’d be weird if I was squeamish.” 

  “Right. Sorry.” He chuckles and puts on some movie, but I can’t quite focus on it. It’s just an average slasher flick, riddled with blood and fake guts. Nothing major, but it’s enough to eventually keep my worries away. 

  He puts on horror movie after horror movie, and I end up laughing at some of the grosser kills. Micah gives me an odd glance, but I shrug and gesture to myself. He nods and smiles. 

  The day rolls by, but there’s now a new problem. I need oil. Badly. I don’t even know if I’d be able to make it back to the Spire, I’m running that low. Everything that happened yesterday wore me out, what do I do? I’m out in the middle of nowhere. 

  I turn to Micah, and he waves his fingers at me. Do I even do this?

  “I should get going,” I say. “I’m sure my teammate is worried about me.”

  “Aw, we were having fun,” he says, sighing. “Oh, well, see you again soon, V.” He hugs me quickly, and I’m left speechless. 

  When was the last time anyone hugged me? 

  A warning flashes in the corner of my visor, and I swallow back saliva. He’s highlighted in red, and he looks so tasty. I nestle my head against his neck, tongue poking out, just barely brushing against the ringed metal. He stiffens, and I pull back and jump off the couch. 

  “I need to go!” I exclaim, dashing to the window. It’s dark enough, and I open the door. 

  “Come back again soon!” Micah calls after me as I stumble outside before taking to the sky. He shuts the door behind me, and I try not to crash. 

  Stupid V! 

  Why did I lick his neck?

  Oh, Robo-God……..just kill me already.

  I dive headfirst into the Spire, wings clipping the top of the airship, and I find N playing with the buttons. J’s nowhere to be seen, and I land beside him and adjust my jacket. 

  “V! You’re back!” N moves in for a hug but stops just before he gets too close. “Where have you been?” 

  “That is a good question, N.” My oil freezes. “Where in the unrelated layoffs have you been, V?”

  I face J, a look of displeasure on her visor, and swallow back my fears. “Out.”

  “Where?”

  “A cave.”

  “All night?” she asks. 

  I nod, and she circles me. N presses himself against the wall as to not get in her way, and she scans me with a skeptical eye. I don’t want her to think I’m lying or weak, so I keep my head up. 

  “Where you out in a cabin by any chance?” 

  “No, I was in a cave,” I say. 

  “Any toasters around? You seem like you missed a meal,” she says. “Your headlights are blinking.”

  What?

  “There were none,” I say. “Can I please go rest now?” 

  She huffs and swivels to N. “Give V the toaster you caught today, she needs it more than you.” 

  “O-of course, J!” He chuckles nervously and heads outside, and I recline in the chair. There’s a chain attached to a collar lying on the floor next to it, and I force my mouth to stay closed. 

  J walks up to me, eyes narrowed. “You have the stench of Workers on you, you pathetic, unpaid intern who can’t-”

  “I don’t need N’s food,” I say, ignoring the insult. “I can take care of myself.”

  “Respectfully,” J says, “you seem to have a strong point of view for someone missing the necessary context.”

  “Just tell me to shut up like a normal drone, Robo-God, you’re annoying!” I snap. 

  N trots back inside with the drone and places it at my feet. I sink to my knees and devour the corpse, and that’s when I feel it. Leather being secured around my neck. I gasp and strain, but it doesn’t give way. I glare at J, who smirks. 

  “Learn to be part of the team or get terminated. Your choice,” she says with a smirk. 

  “Oh, go die in a hole,” I mutter. 

  “Leave her alone, N. Let her learn,” J says, tugging him away. He shoots me one last glance, one full of concern, right as the door shuts. I groan, but all I can do is feast on the Worker. 

|•|

  N returns home, leg in mouth, but he shuffles past me. J lands, crosses her arms, and nods at me. 

  “Good, you’re right where I left you,” she says. 

  “How ‘bout you come closer so I can cut your head off?” I ask, rolling my eyes. 

  She chuckles and comes to me, then pats my head like I’m a dog. I might as well be. J’s a military dog, N’s a guide dog, all while I’m just a hunting dog. What would Tessa say if she could see us now? 

  “I know where you were the other day,” she whispers, hands in my hair. “Don’t worry, I’ll leave them alive for now.”

  I stare at the floor until she leaves, stare at the body still with me. 

  She’s gotta be playing me, right?

  What am I thinking, J never messes around. 

Chapter Text

  I crane my neck to peek at J’s sleeping form, and my tongue lolls from my mouth. She’s never looked tastier. 

  If I just sink my fangs into her thin neck, hear her head when it hits the ground, swallow down all her delicious, warm, sweet oil. Rip her heart out with my teeth, devour it whole. Eviscerate her until I can eat it all at once. Cram her body parts into my stomach, as much as I can, all of it, all of her, let me consume her, devour her, eat her like a ravenous wolf. 

  I raise my talons to the collar, prepared to try and cut it off, when N swoops in. I freeze and focus on him, on the corpse in his hands. 

  I rush at him, hands stretching out. N shrieks, flattening against the wall. The chain snaps me back, but I don’t give up. Growling, I keep yanking against the too-strong chain, and N flies around me. I lash out, my claws scraping his leg. N doesn’t cry out, but I hiss at him. 

  “I’m sorry, V,” he says. “I can’t give you this, J’s orders.”

  I snarl at him, then curl into a circle, tail over my visor. I watch as he eats the drone before going out to place it on the Spire. I swipe at him when he comes back, and they shred his coat. 

|•|

  Food. 

  Food. 

  Food. 

  Food. 

  Food. 

  Food. 

  Food. 

  Food. 
  

  Food. 

  Food. 

  Crave. 

  Need. 

  Want. 

  Feed. 

  Consume. 

  Devour. 

  
  Need food. Need food. 

  Give me. 

  All of it. 

|•|

  Plop. 

  “Ugh, eat up, V. It’s been a month, you’re back on duty.” 

  Devour. 

|•|

  I flap my wings as I make my way to the cabin, keeping a wary eye on my hunger levels. I can’t let them get too low, not around Micah. 

  He’s outside, and he waves up to me when I get close enough. I land, and he hugs me. 

  “Hey, V. It’s been a while, what happened to ya?” he asks, and I tighten the hug. 

  “Stupid team leader,” I mumble. “She didn’t let me leave.” 

  “Well, I’m just glad you’re here again. What’s the first thing you wanna do?” 

  I pause, thinking. “We can take a walk around the woods. I’ve never been out this far before.” 

  He nods and smiles. “That sounds great. C’mon, I’ll show you around. I know these woods like the back of my hand.”

  I giggle and take said hand, and we set off. He points out the types of trees, and I listen with the appropriate fascination. 

  “There’s a camp somewhere around here, I think it was called Camp 97.8, but I heard something weird happened some years ago. Dunno what, but if you wanna go there sometime, I’d be down for that,” he says. 

  “Yeah, that sounds like fun,” I reply. “I’ve never been to a camp before.”

  “Wow.” He chuckles and squeezes my hand. “I’ll take you there one day.” 

  “My teammate N, he’d love it, too,” I tell him. “He’s in to that sort of thing……I guess.” 

  “Oh, yeah, he can definitely come with us,” Micah says. “I’d ask Rose to join us, but I doubt she would.”

  Right, Rose. 

  “Just about anyone can get along with N,” I say. “He’s that kinda guy.” 

  The woods are quiet, and the snow makes me think of a song Tessa had played for us one Christmas. She had loved the holidays, loved celebrating them with us. Micah begins to sing something quietly, and I listen. 
  

Chapter Text

  “So, uh, V, where are we going? ‘Cause, you know, I’m up for doing anything!” N says while we’re flying. “Ooh, is this related to that place J told you to stay away from?”

  I groan and glare at him, and he ducks his head and slows down. “If you tell her anything about this, I won’t hesitate to….to…..just come on and don’t ask more questions.”

  He makes a happy sound, and I hide my smile. We keep gliding until I point out the cabin, and I land. N spins through the air before hitting the ground elegantly, and I clap. He beams, and I pull him towards the building. Micah open the door, and I engulf him in a hug. 

  “V, hi, how are ya? Oh, is this your buddy? Hey, mate, I’m Micah,” he says. 

  “I’m N! Wow, this is a lovely cabin you have here, so fancy! Hi, how are you?” N asks, looking farther in, and I follow his gaze. 

  Rose scowls at us, but something happens when her eyes land on N. Little lines appear on her visor, and she flicks her hand. Micah goes in and guides her out, saying, “This is a group outing, okay?”

  “I don’t want to be anywhere close to the genocide robots,” she hisses. “Where’s the third one, Natty and Lilith’s killer? I have a lot of words for her.”

  N and I share a glance, and he says, “J’s not here today. It’s just us!” 

  She rolls her eyes and grabs an arm, staying a good distance away from us. N skips through the forest, loudly exclaiming whenever he finds something he likes. Every so often, he comes rushing back to show us cool rocks or branches. 

  Rose goes to sit on a log, and Micah and I continue on. N’s words grow muffled, but honestly, it’s nice to have a break from him. 

  “Here, we have the tree Lilith once fell from. Belle was so scared, but she was fine afterwards. I think Natty almost combusted from it all.” Micah laughs awkwardly, and I grab his hand. He clears his throat and points to a bush. “Speaking of Natty, he once hid in there and didn’t come out for hours. We thought he went back to his bunker.”

  I don’t know what to say, it feels like my words are caught deep inside, but I lean against him. Micah coughs but doesn’t shoo me away, and I sit on the ground and bring him with me. 

  “Are you cold?” he asks, then whacks his head. “Dumb question, we’re drones. Would you like this scarf? It’s just an old one I had lying around.” He digs into his bag and produces a red scarf and hands it to me, and I gently wind it around my neck and smile at him. 

  “Thank you, Micah,” I whisper. 

  “D-don’t mention it.”

  We lean against each other and watch the falling snow, occasionally catching snowflakes on our tongues. The scarf feels nice, and I close my eyes. 

|•|

  Eventually, we get up and head back to the others. To my surprise, Rose and N are talking animatedly about something, and as I get closer, I realize that it’s about musicals. 

  “She had a doll head?” N asks. 

  “Yep! Since she was decapitated, she uses a doll head to replace hers!” Rose exclaims. “She’s my favorite because…dolls, duh! Oh, hey, Micah! Where have you been?”

  “We’ve been out, just enjoying the snow,” he replies. 

  She nods and waves to me, and I hesitantly wave back. This is……a bit too much of a shock, but it’s a rather nice one. I sit beside N while Micah joins his friend, and I listen as the three chat about musicals and dogs, letting out a soft hum.  

|•|

  I enter the ship and drop my prey out of sheer horror and confusion due to the sight before me. 

  N is chained up, defeated, with J standing behind him. 

  She doesn’t even make eye contact with me as she passes by, and all I do is put the corpse at N’s feet. 

  “I’m sorry,” I whisper. “What happened?”

  “She found out,” he murmurs. “I didn’t mean to let her know. I’m sorry, V.” 

  “God damn it, N!” I hear myself scream, and I flinch and step back. “Why can’t you just not be you?!” 

  His tail drops sadly, and I turn away from him. Scoffing, I fly back out. 

  It isn’t his fault, but…….

  It’s just so much easier to blame him……..

  No, no, it’s all J’s fault. 

  Right?

  What am I thinking? 

  It’s all my fault. All my fault. 

Chapter Text

A few years later

|•|

  “PLEASE DON’T FEED ME MY OWN ENTRAILS IN FRONT OF MY FAMILY!” the pathetic Worker cries. 

  With the entrails in my claws, I stuff them into his mouth. He chokes on them, the still-functional processors of his family watching in horrified silence, all while my laughter builds. After a few seconds, I slash my talons down his bulging throat, his sweet oil coating me. I feast on him, on them all, devouring everything that remains. 

  “And yet, I still feel nothing,” I say, my eye twitching. I raise my talons to my teeth to clean them, taking in the remnants of the massacre. 

  “V, I heard this planet-wide toxic death storm is supposed to be pretty inhospitable tonight,” a voice says from behind me. 

 
  I whirl around, coming face to face with N, and jump back, preparing to fly. “Oh, God, who are you?” I don’t give him a second to explain why he was there, quickly leaving him on the ground. 

  “My name’s N, but don’t worry! A whole letter’s a lot to remember! Hahaha!” 

  I roll my eyes and set out for new prey, finding some shaking Workers down below. I dive, snatch one up, and sink my fangs into her neck. Following that, I cut her legs off and watch as they sail away into the snow. She passes out in my arms. Oh, that’s too bad, I like it when they struggle. Whatever. I make short work of her body, dumping her remains. 

  Landing, I stalk through an abandoned building, all the way to the top floor. Once there, I shut the door and call out, “Help me! I’m trapped! Someone, please help me! I’m up here!”

  My tail sways as I wait, curling around my legs and flicking up. I purr, drooling at the thought of more food. I can hear rustling from outside the door, and I move away. There’s a light scratching sound at the syringe drags across the floor, but it doesn’t seem to dissuade the would-be rescuers. The door handle lowers, and I duck down behind a large couch. 

  “Hello, who’s there?” 

  “Anyone up here?”

  “H-help me,” I say shakily. “P-please help.”

  The pair grow closer, and I spring up and grab one by the throat. The other cries out, and I swiftly stab him in the face with my tail. He makes a rattling hiss in his throat, and I move so I’m strangling the other one. He gasps, eying the dangerous syringe with a healthy dose of fear, and I stab his neck. I swap my hands out for claws and slice his chassis right down the middle. He stumbles back, sputtering. 

  I refocus on the first and giggle. He’s crawling away as fast as he can. I catch up and stab his leg to the floor, and he can barely do anything before I decapitate him. I straddle him and bite his neck, sucking out his oil. I close my eyes, simply enjoying the taste. 

  Delicious. 

  As soon as the pair are fully drained, I pick them up and carry them off to the Spire, dropping them onto the top. The sun is beginning to rise, so I take shelter beneath the many corpses. I can hear J scolding N from inside, which means I’m not headed in there for maybe hours. Instead, I curl up on the ground, placing my tail over my visor, and enter sleep mode. 

|•|

  Hunt, drop off corpses, avoid N and J, repeat. There’s never anything new to do. It’s so boring. 

  “V, would you like to come hunting with me?” J offers as she does her tie. 

  “Sure,” I say with a shrug. “Why not?”

  “Good. We’ll leave in five minutes.” She picks up a brush and brings it to her hair, and I realize that I still need to get ready. N’s already out hunting, having mumbled something about not wanting to be yelled at for messing up. 

  I button up my jacket and run a hand through my hair, eying her ribbons. I had stolen them once to see what they’d look like on me, but she had caught me and chained me up again. Typical J. 

  We finish at the same time and head out, but that serves as a reminder for why we don’t hunt together. Her almost-practical approach serve as a harsh contrast to my more brutal methods. I can hear her rolling her eyes at me while I tear down Workers like they’re paper. 

  “I know the company trained you better than that,” she says, arms crossed. “Seriously, I don’t know how you were allowed to graduate when this is all you know.”

  “Shut up and hunt,” I say, mouth full of various body parts. 

  She groans and shoots down a Worker attempting to flee. “Happy now?” 

  “No, never.” I swallow my meal and grin lazily at her. “C’mon, let’s do our old trick.”

  J’s mouth quirks into a semblance of a smile, and she nods. I get my blade out, and she readies her gun. She shoots around the Workers, and I launch forward. The constant stream of bullets sends them running in one path, and I slice them down. Her continuous shots and my building laughter puncture each kill. I turn on some intense violin music, and I finish off the last Worker right as it hits the crescendo. 

  I stop, body hunching over, and stare at the slaughtered corpses. J begins to eat one, and I sit down and grab an arm. 

  “Good job, V,” she says casually. “Synergistic Liability would never be able to do that.”

  “Tell me about it,” I reply. 

  That was fun, so why do I feel empty?

  I just need to hunt more. That’s all. 

  Yes, hunting. Tearing their heads from their necks, ripping limbs apart, letting their oil flow from their bodies. It’s exactly what I need. 

Chapter Text

  I yawn, stretching and peering over at N. He’s still asleep, clutching his hat to his chest. J’s not even awake yet, and I smile. I pass by the two, briefly touching the fur on his jacket. He stirs, and I leave the ship. 

  I’m not super hungry, but I’m sure they’ll be when they wake up. I set out and take off, singing to myself, “Some say we’re released, pushing daisies deceased, but we all know the worms must be fed.” I continue the song until I finish it, then set up another one. 

  I fly over some cheerleaders, but they don’t seem all that appetizing. One of them waves at me, and a question mark pops up on my visor. I shake my head and move on, my attention being stolen by some drones running away. 

  I shoot them down, giggles escaping me. They build to full-blown cackles, and oil stains the snow as their screams punctuate their demise. I carry them away and bring them to the ship, dropping one before N and the other close to J, then turn and leave again. 

  The cold air feels wonderful, and I can’t stop myself from laughing. Just genuinely laughing. The falling snow coats me a bit, and I smile and fly in loops. I close my wings and begin to fall to the ground, snapping them open at the last second. My legs hover over the ground, and I lie down. After a few seconds, I move my limbs to make a snow angel. 

  Click. 

  I bolt upright, searching for that sound. I narrow in on the picture-taker, and I frown. It’s the blonde cheerleader from earlier, and to my confusion, she runs away. 

  
  “Rude,” I mumble, sighing. 

  I stay there for a few hours before I decide to head back to the Spire, ready to have J chew me out again. However, something very interesting is going on when I arrive. 

  A little Worker girl is running away, and I lick my lips and hiss softly. She looks delicious. I want to devour her. 

  “Yo! We got a Worker out here I kinda practice balloon animal shapes with!” I call out. I land and take in the suddenly confusing state of things at the ship. “Umm, what happened here?”

  N’s eyes are hollowed into rings, and one of his headlights is blinking red. J groans and says, “Synergistic Liability went and knocked himself offline. Hello, Moronbot.” She slaps him and snaps her fingers at his face. 

  His light goes back to normal, a brief sentence flashing over his visor, and he pauses for a second. “Oh,” he says. Then an expression of panic hits him, and he grabs at his head. “OH! I left an extremely dangerous weap….uh…..excuse outside!” He darts out from the Spire, and I narrow my eyes. 

  J crosses her arms, and I can’t help but let myself have some humor. I unfurl a flag that reads, “Literally so insanely suspicious.”

  “We’re going after him,” J says. 

  “Yeah, I got that,” I say. 

  We exchange a glance, and she nods. We take flight, and J sighs heavily. 

  “We leave him alone for a few hours, and he goes and gets himself into trouble. What was the company thinking when they assigned him to us?” she mutters. 

  I lower my external audio processors and put on some good music, trying to not dance while flying. J would kill me if I did that, and I’d rather stay alive. Kinda. 

  N unknowingly leads us to Outpost 3, and I watch as he blocks the door from closing. I draw back and wait until he manages to get it open, and I begin to salivate at the thought of all the scared Workers and readjust my audio. He enters the bunker, and I hear screams and oil being spilled. 

  “Ew, V, stop drooling,” J says, and I wipe my mouth. “You’re disgusting.” 

  I bite back the words I want to say and refocus on the sounds of horror. The red light fills the space, creating a ghastly feeling of dread. I smile lazily, and my tail flicks impatiently. I draw the tip across my hand and lick it, stopping the acid from ruining it. 

  J nods to me, and we enter the bunker. 

  “Nice going, stud,” she says, and N turns. He quickly throws something or someone away from him, and I tilt my head. My power cell is thrumming with energy, and the edge of my vision gets tinged with oil-lust. “I always knew you had a hidden skill in that empty head of yours.” 

  “Yeah, I’ve been trying to get in here for months!” I chirp. “Great job, N.” 

  Confusion takes over the poor drone, and a loading symbol appears. “You….me…..name remember?” he asks, alternating pointing at me and himself. 

  I simply laugh and ascend into the vents, trilling, “Lowest body count eats a missile!” However, as soon as I’m away from them, a feeling slams into me. 

  “You would really leave Big Brother N all alone?”

  “Oh, shut up, Cyn,” I mumble. 

  The vents are larger than expected, and I can practically smell the Workers. I hear them as they flee to the center of the bunker, and I continue to skitter through the space. My tail makes a quiet hiss that only exhilarates me more. 

  “HE’S IN TROUBLE!” Cyn shouts, and I flinch and run into the wall. I right myself and whack my head. “GO BACK!”

  “Shut up, Cyn!” I snap. “He’s fine!”

  “No, no, go back!” 

  “What’s it to you? I thought you hated us!”

  “Not him, not him. Concerned expression. Worried glance.”

  “Aye-aye, captain.” I curl into myself and turn around, pulling back slightly when I see J. She barely squeezes past me, shooting me a dirty look. 

  “What are you doing? Come on.”

  “Where’s N?” I ask. 

  “He started to question the company, so I took action,” she says. 

  “What do you mean?” I try not to let my voice waver, and she doesn’t seem to notice. 

 
  “I put a virus in him. It’s just you and me now, V. Come on.” She snaps her fingers, and like a disgustingly obedient hunting dog, I do as she says. 

  Poor N…….

  I’m sorry. I’ll……I’ll kill her for you.

  I thought this would work. I thought it would work.

  The vent opens up into a hiding spot, and I force a grin. It works, and I turn up some music. With the horrified Workers’ eyes on me, I climb up the nearby wall to scan for easy prey. One of them talks to some of the scared adults, and when they back away, he grabs a pipe and takes a step. I inhale and lose myself in a cloud of oil-lust.

  He doesn’t have time to react before I launch myself at him and plunge my talons through his shoulder. He coughs, choking up oil, and I lick it off him. My grin becomes mocking, and I giggle. Ripping my talons from him, I force them back into the wound, and he cries out. I bite down on his neck, and he goes limp. 

  “Put that conventionally attractive guy down!” a girl shouts, and I spin. 

  It’s some purple-haired drone and……

  N!

  He’s alive!

  The two talk, he says something, and she holds up a pen menacingly. N rushes me, and I drop the guy. I pull out my swords and slash at him, laughing. He shouts and tries to avoid me, but a few blows land. The girl tosses the pen at J, which is a direct strike. I can’t help but chuckle and focus on N again. 

  I toss him at some boxes, retrieve him, and throw him into the air. His wings snap open, and he catches himself. 

  “V! Please, stop! We don’t need to-“

  I kick him, sending us both flying backwards, loop around, and get behind him. He shrieks, and I slice at his wings. He closes them and plummets to the ground. I land, preparing a missile. He does the same, but to our twin confusion, it just sends out a flurry of pink hearts. 

  “Ah! My mind’s in a weird place! Don’t read into this!” he shouts. 

  I giggle and send the missile, and he goes flying away, screaming. His scream is actually cute, and combined with the hearts…….ignore that, V. 

  J shrieks from behind, and I ignore that as well. She gets whatever that Worker is doing to her. What was she thinking, infecting N? He’s the only one of us who can take hits like it’s nothing. 

  “V, please! I lov-“

 
  I close my eyes and turn up the music once again, blocking out the rest of his words. I can’t bear to hear them. 

  We resume our aerial fight, blades clashing. His expression….I can’t take it.

  He mouths something and…….

  LICKS MY BLADES?!

  “Ew, what the hell?!” I squeal, retracting the now-gross blade, and he takes the opportunity. He pushes against me, forcing me to the ground, sword at my throat. I pause, panting, and he winds my tail around my body. 

  At the same time, there’s a loud blast from where the Worker and J are. I chance a peek and find her upper half gone.

  Good riddance. 

  Wait a minute, what’s the plan now?

  I put on another mask, one sulking and bitter, and switch to a different song. Something’s happening with the Workers, and I roll my eyes. Minutes pass, N puts the girl on his shoulders, grabs me by the head, and launches all of us up. The girl’s head breaks the ceiling, and she shouts in pain. 

  “Sorry!”

  “Ugh, bite me!”

  N brings us to the ship and carries me to the chair. I lower the song as he starts speaking. 

  “V, I’m sorry, but I have to do this.” He picks up the collar, and my eyes hollow. 

  “N, no. Please. Not that. Anything but that!” I cry, but he shakes his head and attaches it to me. I pull against it, lashing out at him. N steps back, and the girl nears us. 

  “I can’t have you hurting Uzi,” he says. 

  I huff, leaning back and cross my arms, and I bring up a game to play. They leave.

  How did this Worker gain his trust so fast? 

  She was nice to him, hmm?

  Oh. 

  She was nice to him. Of course. Of course that’d be it. Between me and J, it makes sense he’d go with the first drone to be truly kind to him. I can’t imagine I’d be any different. 

  This is what I deserve, huh?

Chapter Text

  “Hey, N, can I ask something?” Uzi turns to him, and I bring out my bubble wands. “How come J was the leader? She wasn’t exactly the best at it from what I saw.”

  “That’s ‘cause she wasn’t meant to be the leader,” I say casually. “N was.”

  They both shoot me twin looks of bewilderment, and I giggle and let an arm dangle. 

  “What?” N asks. “I don’t remember that at all.”

  “Yeah, she nearly self-destructed when she found out you were assigned the leader. She also reassigned my partnership, too.” I blow some bubbles, ignoring how Uzi squints at us. A loading symbol pops up, spins, then she groans and glares at the wall. 

  “Partnership?” the Worker girl asks. 

  I point my bubble wand at her and mime cutting my head off. “Not a question, I’m not answering.”

  “Oh, that explains some things,” N says. He faces Uzi, who perks up and listens. “I wondered why I could take more damage than V or J while doing less. I guess that’s why I was meant to have a partner.” He laughs nervously and rubs the back of his head. 

  What were those gamer terms? Tank and ADC? Yeah, that sounds right for us. 

  Whatever. 

  “Anyways,” Uzi says, “I have some new plans for the ship, ones that will totally make it way cooler.”

  “Ooh, I wanna see ‘em!” N exclaims. 

  I watch as she shows him the papers, logging all the information I can see. Uzi’s already made herself at home here with pictures insulting me and J and even some blankets piled up outside. She had refused to even consider sleeping in here with us, but that probably had something to do with me threatening to eat her. 

  I continue to blow bubbles, wondering when she’ll leave. 

  “Big Brother N is so happy. To think that he wanted to be with you. Sarcastic laugh. You’re nothing.”

  Yep, I’m nothing. Just the way it was meant to be. Keep talking, Cyn. You’re not saying anything I don’t know. 

  “V, are you okay?” N suddenly asks, and I stiffen. 

  “Duh. Why wouldn’t I be? I mean, I am chained up and all. Wanna help out?” I throw myself out of the chair, letting the chain snap me backwards. I take a seat and shrug, smiling. 

  “Leave her alone, N. She needs to learn what she did wrong,” Uzi mutters. 

  A pause. My vision tinges red. J…..I bare my fangs and hiss quietly.

  “Why, you little-“ I swipe my talons at her, barely reaching her hoodie. She yelps and scrambles away, and I lash out again. “COME HERE!” 

  “N!” 

  He stands between us, and I growl at him. Fear flashes over his visor, and he takes a step back. Uzi shakily stands up and sticks her tongue out at me, and I snarl. She hisses back but stays safely behind him. 

  Coward. 

  I settle back in the chair and cross my legs, and they sit down after a few beats. However, I keep listening to their little plans. Something about repairing and painting the ship. Useless. This thing won’t be moving, not unless some human comes along and fixes it. 

|•|

  I bring a small pickaxe out and chisel at the weakened link, doing my best to be quiet. It doesn’t really do anything, but I keep going. That’s when I hear some noises from outside, and I return to my seat and stare at the buttons. 

  Turning, I see Uzi and roll my eyes. She makes a face, and I scoff. 

  “Why don’t you let me go, and I’ll be out of your way?” I offer. “It’s a win-win for us all.”

  “Where would you go?” she asks. 

  I smirk and lean back, moving my leg a bit to cover the chain. “I have my territory, same as N and J. You wouldn’t see me ever.” 

  “Yeah, how ‘bout no?” Uzi crosses her arms and shifts her body to the side. “The last thing I want is more dead Workers, and I know that’s exactly what you’ll do.”

  We glare at one another for several minutes before she breaks the game. 

  “What did you mean when you say ‘partners’ the other day? N didn’t seem to know either.” She bounces one foot, and I sigh. 

  “Since N was supposed to be the leader, J and I were originally assigned to be partners. It was just a way to make sure we didn’t die to the Workers, purple thing. That changed when she threw a hissy fit and made herself leader.” I blow some bubbles at her, and she flinches. “Happy now?”

  Uzi scowls at me and yells, “BITE ME!” With that, she leaves and slams the door shut behind her. I hear her yelp as what must be snow falls on her, and I crack a smile.

Chapter Text

  My hunger levels are high, and I can’t move. Not unless N’s ready to lose a friend. 

  Uzi’s just outside, talking loudly, and I slide out of the chair. I creep forward, eyes wide and flickering into an X, saliva dripping, reaching out-

  The yank of the chain brings me back to my cruel reality, and I curl up on the floor. I shoulda guessed she wouldn’t let me eat. She’s just like J, a demanding, cocky, arrogant drone who doesn’t listen to reason. 

  I try enter sleep mode, but my hunger won’t allow it. I need to eat. 

  I need to eat. 

  “Look at you. Once the top predator, reduced to a starving beast. Smirk. Head tilt. It’s adorable. If only I could pat your head.”

  I snarl, and Cyn laughs. It’s an ugly, monotone sound, and I want to bash her face in. After all she did, she deserves to die. If only I could find her. 

  I climb back into the chair, close my eyes, and blast music, drowning out my thoughts. 

  The music shuts off. 

  “Listen to me, ungrateful wench.” A cold ghost of a tentacle caresses my face, and my power cell spikes. “You cannot shut me out. I am you, you are me, we are one. You are forever a part of me.” It wraps around my throat, and I go still. 

  There’s nothing here, nothing here, it’s not real, not real, stop it, stop it-

  Thud. 

  I open my eyes. 

  “Here, V. I brought you some food,” N says, patting my shoulder. “Ouch! You’re hot today, aren’t ya? Well, I got a kinda fresh corpse from the Spire, and I hope it tastes good.” 

  “I don’t need your kindness,” I whisper, refusing to look at him. “I can hunt just fine.”

  He chuckles weakly and shakes his head. “Not until Uzi sees that you can be trusted, okay? Oh, biscuits, V, I’m sorry.” 

  “If you were really sorry, you’d let me out. Let me out,” I say. “I need to be……I need to hunt.”

  “You and I know I can’t let you do that.” N frowns, sadness crushing him. “I’ll talk to Uzi soon, I promise. Just hang in there for a bit more.”

  “She’s just using you, N. J’s dead now, it’s only you and me.” I hate this card, but I need to use it. “We can trust each other, right?”

  “R-right…….” 

  “It’s me and you, N. Me and you.” I fiddle with my fingers, hoping he’ll listen. 

  His hand hovers over my head for a second, and I snap at it. He flinches and draws back, giving me a little salute before he exits. 

  I exhale and gaze at nothing in particular. This is all so boring. What am I even supposed to do? Sit and wait until Miss Prick changes her mind on me? That’s not gonna happen. She’s made up her mind about me, and I doubt anything will change it. 

  I’m a murderer. She’s not. 

  Wait a minute, he brought me a corpse. 

  He brought me food. 

  I sink to my knees and devour the body. Oh, sweet, sweet oil. Nothing could make this night better. I consume all of him and his wonderful oil. God, this is life. 

  Once I’ve had more than enough, I take in the state of the corpse. Brown clothes stained with oil and white hair and a deactivated visor. Something’s in the pocket of his jacket, and I fish it out. 

  It’s a crumpled picture. 

  I open it up and gasp softly. It’s a photo of Micah, Rose, the dead drone, and a smaller one. The last two are holding each other, she’s smiling at the camera, and he’s looking off to the side. 

  I fold it up and tuck it into the torn lining of my jacket.

  The oil in my stomach sours, and the overwhelming urge to vomit strikes me. I cough harshly, and some liquid gets forced up. I clamp a hand over my mouth and swallow several times. 

  That was my first meal in who knows how long. I’m not wasting it. I refuse. 

Chapter Text

  Music echoed faintly throughout the halls of the manor, but it’s overlapped by the “J-pop” songs playing from the young miss’s computer. She sings along as she waltzes around me, alternately between brushing my hair and using the brush as a microphone. I sit still, a calm, blank smile on my face. 

  She had introduced herself as Tessa and my new owner, and when she found me, she had learned that my name was V. Along with that, she explained that I was to be a maid at her manor. There had been a darker note when she said that I was the newest drone in a month, but she had followed it up by exclaiming that I was to meet “N” and “J” very soon. 

  She puts a hard hat with a maid crown on my head, then some round glasses, and beams at me. “You’re all done,” she says. “Time to meet your new friends!” She grabs my hand and pulls me down the hallway, gushing about the other two and how I’ll love them. We arrive at the library, and she kicks the door open and drags me inside. 

  Two drones are nestled in the corner, the male drone reading a book out loud and the female drone cleaning the shelves. They both stop what they’re doing, and the female drone curtsies to Tessa. 

  “Who’s this, boss?” she asks. 

  Tessa pushes me forward, but I stumble over a loose book and begin falling. The male drone rushes towards me and catches me, and I feel myself blushing. 

  “I-I’m V,” I say softly. 

  “I’m N, and that’s J!” he says, smiling wide. “Nice to meet you!”

  “Yeah, y-you too.” 

  N guides me to his book and helps me sit down, and the other two talk about something. “Do you like dogs? What’s your favorite? I love golden retrievers, they’re just so cute! Ooh, maybe we can ask Tessa’s folks to get her a dog! That would be so fun!” He giggles to himself, and I join in. 

  “I’m more…..fond of cats,” I whisper, “but dogs sound neat.”

  “They are! My old owners used to have a ton of dogs, like three or four, and they were all so sweet! Well, most of them.” N flips through the book until he finds the picture he’s looking for and points to a small dog. “This is a chihuahua, and the one my owners had was not nice at all. He kept biting me, but he was really affectionate to their children.”

  “Ah,” is all I can say. “That sounds……bad.”

  “Eh, I didn’t mind. Oh, this dog is so cute! They’re called Samoyeds, aren’t they adorable? They’re just so precious, and I just AAHH!” N squeals and hugs me tightly, crushing my synthetic ribs. “What type of cats do you like? I like rag dolls the most, they’re so cute.”

  “I like them, too.” 

  “Ooh, you two are getting along! Wonderful!” Tessa bounces up to us and gathers the three of us into a group hug, and I hear J groan slightly. 

|•|

  My eyes snap open, and I bolt upright. Uzi’s staring at some plans, and I watch. Something flickers on her visor, and she winces. My oil freezes, and I lower my head. 

  N swoops in and drops a corpse down, nudging it towards me. I frown and tilt my head, asking, “Did you already eat?”

  “What? Oh, yeah.” He smiles a bit too wide, and I narrow my eyes. “Uzi, how are the plans coming along?”

  “They’re fine. Stop asking!” She glares at him, but it falls away after a split second. “I figured the paint would be the easiest thing, so I’ll just have to find some.”

  “Purple, right? I know there’s a paint shop, I saw it while I was out flying,” N says. “I bet I could grab some when I go out next time.”

  Uzi nods and grabs some other papers, and I keep eating. There’s nothing else I can do right now, and I know my energy levels are staying down. I have to do so in order to work on breaking the chain. Nowadays, I’m almost glad J kept chaining me up. If not, there wouldn’t be a weak link. 

|•|

  The tea misses the cup by a few centimeters, and Louisa Elliot scoffs. “She can’t even teach a robot to be useful.” She smacks my head with her fan, and I keep myself from flinching. 

  I correct the mistake and pour more tea for the other ladies as they murmur agreements about my state of non-usefulness. Thunder rumbles outside, and I can vaguely hear J calling out for Tessa. The girl was outside last time I checked. 

  Apparently, J doubles as a housemaid and Tessa’s personal maid. Despite that, she also has N as her unofficial butler. 

  “At least you don’t have to worry about firing one,” Cress, the youngest of the ladies, says. Her mother gives her a quick slap on the hand, and she falls silent. I shoot her a sympathetic glance, and she sends back a ghost of a smile. 

  “Yes, well, I suppose that’s the only upside.” Louisa sighs and sips her tea. “Blimey, it’s the wrong one! I said to bring hibiscus, and this is peppermint!” Another fan strike, this one harder. 

  I take the tea-set as well as her cup and leave, returning twenty minutes later with the correct tea. I pour her cup again, and she doesn’t even thank me. Once done, I go to find Tessa before the storm starts. J’s outside now, and she’s holding an umbrella. The young miss is nowhere to be found, and the maid is becoming distressed. 

  “Boss! Tessa! Come on, you need to get inside!” She sighs and makes a beeline to a large tree, and I follow. She turns and jumps backwards. “Oh, God, V! Don’t do that!”

  “Do what?” I ask, blinking. 

  She groans and scales the tree, entering a massive treehouse. “Boss, come on! The storm’s about to start soon!”

  “Tessa, you need to get inside!” I call out. 

  Lightning strikes, and I gasp. I didn’t remember storms being so terrifying. Then again, I don’t remember much from my life before. 

  After several minutes of J’s pleading to what might be an empty treehouse, the young miss’s head pokes out from a doorframe. N comes out, and they give us twin sheepish expressions. He hides behind her, and J snarls quietly. Her fist clenches, but it softens when Tessa looks at her. 

  “Just…..come back, you two. The rain’s about to begin.” She gestures, and we all head down. 

 
  “I’ve finished school for the day,” Tessa says, “so would you three like to watch some movies with me?” 

  “Of course!” N exclaims. “That sounds like fun!”

  “Why not,” I say. 

  “I have to work,” J says. “I can’t. Sorry, boss.”

  “I think you’ve finished your chores today,” Tessa says, putting a hand on J’s shoulder. “Please, J?”

  “I….” She sighs and nods. 

  Tessa squeals and jumps up and down for a few seconds before she lands wrong and hits the ground. J and N are on her in an instant, making sure she’s okay. She waves them away, standing up shakily. “I-I’m all right, you two.”

|•|

 
  When I wake up, it’s the middle of the night. Uzi’s rooting around when she pulls something out from a suitcase, and I blow some bubbles. 

  “N, I found something!” she yells, standing the case up and climbing on top of it. 

  N comes inside, and she slams the thing on his head. It’s his hat, now with a little pin stuck to it. 

  “Did you know that’s a pilot hat?” she asks. 

  
  “I was the pilot! That’s aw-I crashed and ruined everything……” He blinks and shakes his head. “Spaceship pilot. Origin story.” He finger-guns at me, and I hiss before going back to blowing bubbles. 

  Uzi suddenly yelps, there’s the sound of glass shattering, and we turn to her. She had a horrified expression, and her words aren’t even coherent. 

  Oh, shit. Oh, no. 

  “What is this?!” she finally yells. “Have either of you seen this?” 

  “I’ve never seen that symbol before,” I say with a smirk. “Wanna do an autopsy to find out?”

  N pats her shoulder, but she whacks his hand. “We’ll find out, I know we will. Hey, why don’t we see if there’s anything in the colony. I’m sure someone will know something.”

  Uzi groans and nods, and N gives me a thumbs up. I wait until I know they’re far enough away before screaming, “SHIT! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! CYN, QUIT YOUR FUCKING GAME AND TALK TO ME!” 

  I yank against the chain, and I hear a loud snap. I fall flat on the ground and sigh. 

  Nothing. Not even a laugh. 

  I sit up and stare at the buttons. “Crap. What am I supposed to do now? She’s a host.”

  048 and 002 come into my memories, and I exhale. Bringing out my sword, I study it and run my finger along the edge. “It’s sharp enough. I’m sorry, N, but hosts can’t live.”

Chapter Text

  My stomach growls. 

  Growls again. 

  Again. 

  Again. 

   I barely check outside before taking off, the wind whipping around me. I stay silent as I fly through Micah’s forest, and I find a female drone with curly gray hair. Swooping down, I lift her up, and she shrieks. 

 
  “LEMME DOWN, LEMME DOWN!” she yells, struggling in my arms.

  She strikes my sternum, and I let her go. She collapses to the ground, and I land. The drone scrambles backwards, and I cock my head. Her trembling breath and digital tears make me crawl towards her like a cat, and she turns and runs. I give chase, and she screams again. I slash at her, and she kicks my face. 

  “LET ME GO! ROSE, HELP!” 

  I raise my tail, and she swallows. Her visor flashes with, “Calculating what deity to pray to,” and I laugh madly. 

  I lunge at her, and she strikes my face. I scratch her chassis with my syringe, and she winces through clenched teeth. 

  Click. 

  “Stay down, sky demon.” 

  I whirl around, snarling, and my eyes widen. The bullet hits my stomach, I stumble back. A growl tears itself from my throat, and I pull out my own gun. 

  Rose glares at me, and the other drone runs behind her and cowers.

  “I’ll give you one chance to leave.” She pulls the revolver’s hammer back and aims at my head. “Three, two, o-“

  I rush her, and she fires. My tail lashes her arms to her body, the gun falls, and I smile. She gasps, and I bite her neck. She hisses, arm struggling against me, and I feel her grab my syringe and pull. I whirl around and bite her again, sucking her oil. 

  “I always knew-“

  I bite down harder, and she groans. The thin metal and plastic begins to break, and her head lolls. 

  BANG!

  I fall back, gasping. 

  The other drone. 

  She’s holding the gun, eyes wide. She staggers away, swallowing with fear. 

  I hiss, a clicking sound coming from my throat. With a shaking hand, she lifts the gun again, cocks the hammer, and squeezes the trigger. The bullet hits me square in the chest, and I turn and flee through the fallen trees and bushes. 

  I find another drone and tear her apart, gulping down as much oil as possible before I return. N and Uzi still aren’t back, and I pull up an FPS game. An hour or two go by, and nothing. Whatever. I shouldn’t even care. 

  Another hour passes, and right as I’m about to enter sleep mode, N swoops in. He immediately curls into a ball on the floor, facing away from me. A heavy sadness radiates off him, and I frown. 

  “What’s going on?” I ask. 

  “I don’t wanna talk about it,” he mumbles. “Everything went wrong.”

  I cock my head and roll my eyes. “I hate your personality normally, but this is somehow worse. What am I being punished for?” 

  Maybe I should just leave. This isn’t important to me, it’s some nonsense from the Workers. This is why we’re not meant to befriend them. It always backfires………….

  Always. 

  N lets outs a tiny sound, and I hesitantly push my broken chain backwards. He turns to me, and I lean forward a bit. 

   “Uzi, Thad, and I……we saw something……I don’t even know what it was……” he says. “It was like a-a spooky, holo snake-crab! It could……make holograms, accurate ones…..we think it came from J.”

  I bite down on my tongue, thoughts swirling through my CPU. A holo snake-crab? That’s a new one.

  Cyn, what are you planning? 

  I can’t leave him now. Not after this. 

  N exits the ship and comes back with a corpse, nudging it to me. I push it back, just a bit. We share a glance before beginning to devour it together. 

Chapter Text

  N’s out flying, and I quickly unlock my collar and leave. He’s probably in his territory, so I’ll go to mine, the forest. I catch a glimpse of drones down below, but I don’t stop. I’m not hungry, there’s something more I need to do. 

  I land on the doorstep of the cabin and knock, then blow bubbles while I wait. Nothing. I knock again, but there’s still silence. 

  She told him. Of course she did. I shouldn’t have expected anything less. 

  I turn to leave and jump back. 

  Micah’s right there, head tilted in concern. “V, are you okay? You haven’t been here in a while. Rose said you came by a few weeks ago.”

  “I-I need to talk to you a-and Rose,” I say quickly, stumbling a bit in my attempt to get to him. “Like, right now.”

  He nods and brings me inside, and I sit on the couch and play with my hands. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “What do you know about Outpost Three?” I ask. “Who runs it?”

  “Uh, I think Khan still does. Rose talks to her dad every now and again, and I think he’d have mentioned if he retired,” Micah says. “Is he okay?”

  “Huh? Oh, I have no idea,” I say, my leg tapping on the ground. “Did anything weird happen a few years ago?” 

  “V, what’s going on?” He puts a hand on my knee, and I pull away. “I don’t think this is normal for you.”

  “What is the she-demon doing here?”

  “Hey, Rose,” Micah says, waving to his friend. “V stopped by to ask questions about something.”

  “You just….let her in?” The girl glares at me but goes into the kitchen and returns with a glass of coolant. “She tried to kill Belle.” 

  “What?!” Micah springs up, and she catches him before he falls backwards. “V, is that true?”

  “I was hungry,” I say flatly. “You’d do the same if you were in my place.”

  “If I was in your place, I’d have self destructed a long time ago,” Rose says, rolling her eyes. “You’re just an animal who can’t control your violent impulses.”

  “Rose, V-“ 

  “Forgive me for being programmed this way!” I snap. “Forget it, I’m leaving!” 

  Rose and Micah watch as I exit the cabin, and I hide in a tree and sigh heavily. Workers are stupid creatures who can’t be reasoned with. That’s why we kill them. 

  It feels like everyone is out to get me. Cyn, that Worker, these two…..
  

  Cyn……..

  Where did she go? She’s been silent for much too long. 

|•|

  I work on reconnecting the chain while N’s gone, and I stop as soon as I hear his footsteps outside. I do my best to cover it, and he comes inside with a body and a pack of cards. 

  “For old time’s sake?” he asks quietly. 

  “For old time’s sake,” I say. 

  He sits down and hands me some cards, and we decide on Blackjack. My first set of cards adds up to nineteen, and his goes to seventeen. I draw another one, but it’s a four. I groan, and he smirks a bit. I swat at him, and he laughs. 

  “Cheater,” I mumble. 

  “I’m not!” His tail sticks straight out, and I giggle. “You’re just a sore loser.” 

  “I’ll show you a loser,” I say. 

  “Oh, really? Because I think I see one now,” he teases. 

  “It’s called your reflection, idiot.” 

  We pause, look at each other, and start laughing. After a second, he breaks off the Worker’s arm and gives it to me, taking a bit of plating for himself. He crunches it like a chip, and I scoot out of the chair and tear into the stomach. I pull out a rib and devour it, and he takes some innards. 

  We keep playing, evening up the scores until we’re tied. He leans against me as I project an old movie for us to watch. It’s pure garbage, but it’s so entertaining. Our tails intertwine, and a wave of guilt pulses in me. 

  I wonder what that little Worker is doing right now. N had told me that she and her dad had reunited after the Eldritch incident, but I doubt she returned to normal life. 

  N begins to snore, and I unlock myself and help him up to his sleeping post. When I relock the collar, I do my best to beat back my feelings and sleep. 

|•|

  I spin around when someone enters the ship, and I’m taken aback by the sight of……Uzi?

  She’s holding her arm awkwardly and asks, “Is…..N……around?”

  I pause for a second before saying, “No.” Oh, how easy it would be to kill her right here and now. She wouldn’t even be able to make a sound. How delightful. How fun.

  “Oh.” The Worker glances away and back, almost shyly. “Do you know where he is?” 

  “Probably in his territory,” I say with a shrug. “What’s it to you?” 

  “Bite me!” she snaps, taking a step forward. I give her an unimpressed look, and she seems to remember just what I am, who I am, and backs up. “He’s still keeping you chained up?” 

  Giggling, I let my head loll to one side, saying, “Yeah, he knows I’d massacre you all. Anyways, he-we’ve made a promise to not interact with your kind anymore. Leave.”

  “N-no way. I need to talk to N, it’s super important,” Uzi says. 

  She pulls papers from her hoodie pocket and unfolds it, showing me that it’s two missing posters. I blink, and a loading symbol appears on her screen. After a second, she groans. 

  “Is that what’s so important?” I ask, quite bored. “We didn’t do that if that’s what you’re wondering.”

  “Well, now I am.” She pauses before continuing. “A few of my classmates have disappeared, and I was thinking that N could help me find them or what happened to them. No one knows anything.” 

  I study the posters, but the words are blurry. I make a gesture, and she hands it to me. 

  Neo Smith aged eighteen, four foot six, white eyes, brown hair, pink clothes. 

  Noir Smith, aged eighteen, four foot four, green eyes, black hair, black and white clothes. 

  “If I remember, I’ll tell him when he comes back,” I finally say, giving her an almost mocking salute. “Disassembly’s promise.” 

  “Oh, shut up and bite me.” Uzi turns to leave, and when I know she’s gone, I stash the papers away. Internally, I scold myself for letting her get away. What a terrible hunter I must be. 

  N returns a few hours later, and I don’t say a word. 

Chapter Text

  N shrieks as his character gets eaten, and I laugh at his misfortune. He closes his screen and looks over at my game, then he puts his head on my lap and purrs. I stroke his hair, a tiny smile on my face, and he lets an old murder mystery movie play out on his projected screen. 

  “Someone stopped by earlier,” he says softly. “That Worker friend of yours, Micah. He said he wanted to talk to you.”

  “Really?” I frown, and the movie gets paused. “Huh, that’s pretty weird.”

  N nods, and I wonder if I should tell him about Uzi and what she had to say. I’m about to open my mouth, but N makes a cute sound that steals my focus away. 

|•|

  “V, it’s laundry day!” N sings as he throws the ship door open, and I swivel in my chair and cock my head. “You know what that means!”

  I slip my jacket off and hand it to him, and he leaves as quickly as he appeared. He comes back inside after a bit, holding out a white sweater dress. I grab it and place it on my lap, taking in his new outfit, just a long jacket. 

  I stare at it and hide my smile from him, but then it hits me. We make eye contact, and his tail sticks out. 

  “R-right, right. Yeah, sorry.” He comes up to me and…..unlocks the collar……

  “N?” I ask softly. “What are you…..doing?”

  “I’m doing this as long as you promise to not attack the Workers, V,” he says before adding, “and so you can change.” 

  I nod and slip the sweater over my head and give him a quick hug. He does the same, and I feel something deep inside begin to hurt. We share another glance, and he says, “We could go flying if you’d like.”

  “I’d love that.” 

|•|

  The cold air feels nice, and I giggle as the wind whips through my hair. N and I circle around an abandoned building, and I push his shoulder before taking off. He laughs and begins chasing me, and he catches up and tags. 

  “Hey!” I cry, and he flies the other way. A pure rumbles in my throat, and I take my time instead of pushing myself and breaking my wings to tag him. His hat goes flying off his head, and I catch it. When he turns around, I give him a peace sign and go left. 

  I hear N calling for me, and I ignore him. I land inside the building and start running. N follows me, and I stick my tongue out at him and dash down the stairs. Hiding away beneath the stairwell, I catch my breath as my optics alert me to low oil levels. My stomach rumbles so painfully that I nearly fall over.

  “Don’t lose yourself, V,” I whisper. “Don’t….”

  Something thumps from the lower levels, and I bite my tongue. Slinking out of the stairwell, I creep down until I find a Worker taking some robotic animal apart. I hide quietly, tail swishing around my legs. The syringe brushes over the metal but doesn’t scratch it, and I begin to climb the wall. 

  Saliva builds up and spills over, and I make a clicking sound in my throat. The Worker looks up, gasps, and I descend down like a nightmarish angel. There’s a strangled shriek, a crunch, and oil coating my body. I eat as much as I can, groaning when my optics tell me I’ve had more than enough. 

  “V?”

  Crap.

 
  I don’t want to imagine what this scene must look like to him, and I try to cover the oil splotches. My eyes hollow, and I don’t even speak. 

  I stand, stumbling towards him while putting a hand on my stomach. N grabs my shoulder, and I can feel his disappointment. I brush him off, open my wings, and I take off before he can say anything. 

  “Stupid, stupid V. What was I thinking?” I curl up on my chair and knock myself into sleep mode. Right as the bar hits ninety-eight percent, I hear the sound of the lock clicking into place. 

|•|

  N doesn’t talk to me afterwards, and I don’t particularly want to. He drops off one corpse for me to eat while he stays outside, and I reconsider how badly I want to stay around. He knows what J would do to us, yet he’s willing to do the same.

Chapter Text

  He leaves me a note that tells me that he’ll be gone for a week or two, and there’s two corpses left at my feet. The note also mentions that he left the key nearby in case of an emergency but I’m not to leave otherwise. 

  I unlock myself and go flying almost immediately. Screw him, I’ll do what I want. The sun seems to have set an hour or more ago, and I don’t bother to see if he’s around. Part of me doesn’t even care if he gets burnt, he needs to learn to not lock me up. 

  As I do so, a memory forces its way into my mind.

|•|

  “J, what is this?” I ask, crossing my arms. 

  Our team leader smirks and says, “You and Synergistic Liability need to learn how to fight in unusual circumstances, and this is the best way to do so.” 

  N goes still, and I roll my eyes. “Alright. Square up, uh, M?” 

  He and I take our positions in the snow, and I lean forward and raise my tail like a scorpion. His eyes go into rings, and I turn mine into an X. I rush him, and he yells and stumbles away from me. I curl my tail around his throat and squeeze, the tip grazing his cheek. 

  VRRVRR!

  I cry out as his chainsaws cut through my tail, hopping away from him and hissing. The canister falls to the ground, and I snarl at him. I hear J laugh to herself, and I whirl around. She falls silent, and I descend upon N. One of my talons cut through his cones, and he yelps. The other severs his leg, and he hits the ground. 

  I lower myself over him and lick his cheek, and we lock gazes. Inside his eye rings are….little hearts? Weirdo. I pull away and stand beside J, who hands me a finger. I devour it, watching as he slowly regenerates. 

  “Again,” she says. 

  We do, as many times as she orders. I win them all. 

|•|

  The sudden snap of a camera disorients me, and I crash land and hiss at the blonde cheerleader right ahead of me. She smirks, and I narrow my eyes and quietly growl. 

  “You look familiar,” I say. 

  “Yeah, this is kinda the second time I’ve done this.” She puts a hand on her hip, and I stop and straighten up. “What can I say, you’re crazy photogenic or something. Name’s Lizzy. You?”

  “V,” I say after a moment of debate. 

  An odd expression takes over her visor for jut a second, but she extends a hand and says, “Nice to meet you. Wanna, like, hang out? All of my friends are totally busy and stuff.”

  Is she insane? I know I said that I’ll try not to attack anyone, but this playing with fire. Maybe I should show her a lesson or two, make her realize just how idiotic she sounds. 

  “Sure.” I keep my voice light, and she grabs my hand and pulls me after her. She drags me to a park, and she immediately starts building a snowman. I stand still until she chucks a snowball at me, and she laughs when I glare at her. 

  “C’mon, just have fun. That’s what we’re here for, right?” Lizzy throws another snowball at me, and I bend down and gather one. She pelts me with more. Where is she getting them?

  Lizzy yelps as the snowball smacks her visor full on, and she hits the ground, hard. She blinks, mouth open, and I go over to her. She raises a hand, but I stare at her before slowly helping her up. She laughs and says, “You’re just like my other friends. You and I will get along just fine.”

  I can’t speak, but I feel lines appear by my eyes. Lizzy hugs me tight, snaps a picture, and whispers, “Wanna head to my house later? I got this really great movie for my birthday, and I bet we can take some quizzes after.”

  This is going way too fast, but strangely, I don’t want to say no. I nod, and she squeals and tugs on a strand on my hair. My tail curls up, and I fight against hissing at her again. 

  Lizzy finds a way to get me into her apartment without anyone seeing me, and we settle on her bed. She puts on an super old movie, Mean Girls, and turns out the lights. Honestly, it’s not really my thing, but I do my best to focus on the plot. Afterwards, she puts on a much more interesting one called Heathers.

  “Quiz time!” she exclaims once it ends. She pulls up some different websites and shoves her pink computer at me. I hesitantly answer the questions, and the first character I get is Gretchen. I make a face, and she laughs and goes next. She gets Regina and flashes a peace-sign at me. 

  For the Heathers characters, she gets Heather Chandler, and I end up with…..J. D…….

  I hate that, and I promptly take it again. That time, my result is Heather Macnara, and Lizzy pokes my side. 

  “Seriously? You know, my friend, Doll, she once got Veronica, then Heather Duke. You two should hang out some time, you’d totally get along.” She gives me a smile, and I stare at her. 

  “Yeah. That would be……fun,” I say. 

  “You can spend the night if you want, I don’t mind.” Lizzy snaps another picture of us and goes to edit some stuff over it, and I catch a glimpse of some little sparkle emojis. 

  “I really can’t. The daytime, I’ll die, uh…..” I stand up and go to her window. It’s late, and I know everyone else is already asleep. “Thanks, this was fun.” 

  She nods and says, “Yeah, I’ll figure out when we can hang again. See you soon!” She hands me a little heart charm and pins it to my jacket, and I don’t know what to say. 

  I shift on my feet, then open the window and head back to the Spire. 

Chapter Text

  I stare down at the stuff I’ve gathered: a basket, some wrapping paper, plastic wrap, and some small things like batteries and flavored coolant. Who decided to give that flavoring? Sighing, I arrange them into a nice pattern, and the activity makes me smile. 

  I remember when Tessa would have us help her making gift baskets for the kids for visited the gala. J was always done first, but she’d help Tessa and not scold us for messing up. N would add little pictures of animals for the kids, always somehow knowing what they’d like. I did my best to add cool mythology facts or little fake flowers because what else was I to do? 

  Wait, adding something else…..

  With a new idea in mind, I go outside and stare at the wall of corpses, and I search through them to find anything that Micah and Rose might like. However, with my hand hovering over a cute pink dress with little hearts, I stop and think about what I’m doing. They already hate me, and giving them clothing from drones I personally slaughtered would just amplify it. 

  I write a quick note after some internal debate and stick it in his basket. 

  Once they’re done, I deliver them and knock on the cabin door. As soon as I hear footsteps, I take off and land in a tree. Micah opens the door, and a question mark appears on his visor. I hear Rose shout something from inside, and he replies and grabs the baskets. He scans the surroundings, and I swear he sees me. I retreat deeper into the branches’ cover and wait until he heads inside. 

  I fly back home, grab the dress, and stick it through Lizzy’s partially open window along with another note. After that, I make my way inside through the vent opening and crawl through in order to map out the bunker for possible victims. However, when I pass by a room, my sensors go insane. 

  Oil. 

  Oil?

  I peer inside the room, and sure enough, it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet in there. Saliva drips down, and my eyes turn into the X. I reach a hand out towards the vent covering-

  The door opens. 

  I promptly continue on my way. No need getting into a cat fight over some food even if I’d win. 

  By the time I return back home, the sun is nearly up. I still can’t sleep, so I grab some more clothes and start sketching what to do with them. I like this white shirt with ruffled sleeves and this cute black skirt, so I find a way to stitch them together. I put on a movie to listen to, an ancient one called Glass Onion, and get to work. I manage to finish it by nightfall, and I hunt down more clothes to turn into new outfits. 

  By the time I’m finally done, my internal clock angrily chirps that I haven’t eaten or slept for three days. I simply ignore it and keep going. No need to stop. Though, it finally pops up and declares “LOW ON FOOD.”

  I respond by tearing off a hand from a body and draining its oil. The pop-up leaves me alone, and I just stay busy. 

  The first dress I remade ends up being very pretty and soft, and I settle down in the chair and watch 12 Dancing Princesses. My hands refuse to stop playing with the fabric, and I find the action strangely comforting. Whoever gave us the ability to feel texture had the right idea. 

  I end up marathoning all the Barbie movies before I get the notice that I’m about to enter emergency sleep mode, and I don’t have the time nor will to fight it. 

|•|

  Tessa pats my head, then goes over to hug N. He’s like a stuffed animal to her, something small to hold on to and love unconditionally. J watches us from the bed, her hair’s down, and she’s wearing one of Tessa’s nightgowns. 

  The girl undoes my maid dress and takes it off. I would feel embarrassed, but I’m a robot. She has me lift my arms, and she slides on another one of her nightgowns. Once done, she brushes out my hair and ties it up with some pink ribbons. The color stands out bright amongst my yellow-tinged gaze, and I find myself staring right at it. It’s beautiful. 

  I…….

  I want to……eat it?

  Tessa bounces over to J and braids her hair, tying it off with a gold ribbon. N sits patiently on the floor, awaiting his turn. I move beside him, and he squeezes my hand and flicks my hair. I blush, and he murmurs something in my ear. 

  There’s a knock on the door, and a silence slams over us all. Tessa hesitantly answers, and her newest pet stands in the doorway before making a beeline for N. She sits on his lap, and he hugs her tight. 

  Cyn. 

  Tessa encourages her to sit at her vanity, and the little drone does. She has short hair like me, which means the girl has to be creative with what she wants to do. She ends up just curling it a bit and adding some flower pins, then she puts a ruffled dress on Cyn. 

  Once more, she sits on N’s lap, looking ever so cute. I squeeze her shoulder, and she smiles at me. Her yellow gaze follows me as I move to the bed, and I’m reminded of a fox cub or a kitten. 

  Why?

  We all move to surround Tessa while she puts a movie on, and Cyn stays in between me and N. J’s close to Tessa, and N’s on her other side. The girl exclaims something with much excitement, but just like everything else, I can’t hear the words. 

  I wish I could. 

Chapter Text

  I’m willing to talk to you. 

|•|

  I knock on the cabin door, letter clutched tightly in my hand, and it opens to reveal Micah. He smiles a bit hesitantly but gestures for me to come inside, and I let him lead me to the couch. 

  “You got my letter,” he says after a few seconds of awkward silence. “You’re here to talk?”

  I nod, and he hands me a pillow to play with. I squish it a few times, and I know he’s watching me warily. He’s about to speak, but I beat him to it with, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have tried hunting your friend. Belle, was it? I shouldn’t have done that. I’m so sorry. I was hungry, I saw her, and-“

  He puts a hand on my shoulder, and he says, “Just don’t do that again, okay? She’s doing a bit better now, but we had to help her get back to the Outpost because she didn’t want to stay here.”

  “You said she’s getting better?” I hate how weak my voice sounds, but I press on. “T-that’s good. I-I logged her in my memory bank, so I shouldn’t be able to target her again.”

  “That’s a thing you can do?” Micah asks, eyes wide. “Wow, that’s actually kinda cool. Uh, anyways, where’s N?”

  “He left for a few…..days,” I say. “He doesn’t know I’m here, so if you could just, you know, stay silent if he were to ever ask.”

  He nods, and I sigh in relief. “Thanks.” 

  “Back again already?” Rose passes by us and crashes in an armchair, glaring at me. “Leave us alone, demon.”

  I stop myself from hissing at her, and her words finally register in my mind. “Why do you call me that and not N? Why am I the sky demon?”

  “‘Cause you killed Nori, you little bit-“

  “H-hey, now! C’mon, let’s be chill here!” Micah rushes to say, giving her a look that could kill. “Let’s keep the language down, okay?”

  “Whatever,” Rose says. 

  “Who’s Nori?” I ask, and she groans. 

  “Khan Doorman’s wife? She used to work on the WDF, and she…..” The Worker looks away, and Micah cuts in. 

  “She helped raise me and Rose a bit,” he says. “Our parents were friends with her and Khan.”

  “Oh.” It’s beginning to make sense now. Still, who is Nori? “How did she…..how did she die?”

  Another glare, this one more intense than the last. I shiver slightly and keep my expression even, and Rose bares her teeth for a second. 

  “You stabbed her in the face!” she hisses. “Caused Khan to mercy kill his own wife!”

  Oh. 

  “I didn’t do that! I didn’t, I swear!” I look to Micah, and he grabs my hand? What the-

  “Why should I trust you?!” Rose shouts, bolting upright. “You’re a fucking demon!” 

  I curl up on the couch. Even though I could win in a fight against her, I really don’t want to. I get the impression that she’d fight dirty and try to just kill me. 

  She breathes in and out, closes her eyes, and sits down. When she glances up at me, and shakes her head and says, “Fucking demons, you lot. Why did you kill her?” 

  “I didn’t, I swear,” I say. “I don’t even know who she is.” 

  That’s a bit of a lie at this point, but I don’t really care. I do remember that night now, but it wasn’t me. It had to have been N or J. There’s nothing I can say to convince her, though. I might as well accept that. 

  “V, let’s go for a walk,” Micah says, standing up. I take his hand, and he leads me out of the cabin. “Don’t blame Rose, she’s lost a lot of family and friends. I promise, she’s sweet when you get to know her.”

  “I doubt that’ll ever happen,” I mumble. “She hates me. It’s not my fault, it’s how I’m programmed.”

  “I know.” He squeezes my hand, and we fall into silence. 

  Micah shows me around new parts of the forest, and we find a mechanical deer with the most beautiful antlers. I clasp a hand over my mouth as it stands in the moonlight, but a wolf hunts it down not a second later. It releases the most heart-wrenching scream, and I turn away from the sight. There’s a sound of metal tearing, and the wolf stalks away when its prey is dead. 

  “That was……unexpected,” he says quietly. “Sorry ‘bout that.” 

  I can’t speak, and I don’t know if I even want to right now. I lean against him, and he wraps an arm around me. He’s shorter than me, yet he feels sturdy and comfortable. In a good way, he reminds me of N. I miss my teammate. I wish I could go back in time and be nicer to him. 

  We sit down some ways away from the deer, and he tells me different fairy tales and other stories. I listen, nodding along, and he goes on for what might be hours. I don’t mind. It’s better than being alone.  Eventually, he switches to talking about books he’d read, and I watch as the snow falls around us. 

  “Thank you for coming here,” he whispers suddenly. “I enjoy being with you.” 

  I lower my gaze, but I find myself smiling a bit. “No problem. I wasn’t sure if I should have stayed away, but I got your letter and……” My stomach rumbles. 

  “Yeah.” 

  He pulls out a package of batteries and hands me one. I stare at it, then accept it and pop it into my mouth. He eats one, but it does nothing to quell my growing hunger. I look at him, and he begins to sparkle. I slam my eyes closed, glance away, and eat another battery. 

  ‘We don’t eat friends.’ 

 
  Is N surviving? Is he draining drones and drinking their sweet, delicious oil? Is he hating himself with every sip he takes? Does he even care?

  What’s it like to do more than survive? To live? To truly live? Does he live? Does he survive? Does Uzi live? Does Lizzy? Does Micah? 

  I rest against him and purr ever so gently, and he allows me to place my head in his lap. He strokes my hair like an owner pets a cat, and my tail swishes. The tip drags in the snow, and I hear the faint sizzle as it melts. 

  The snow falls, the mechanical animals make sounds, and he simply holds me. Not even N……I want to cry. I want to cry, but I refrain. 

  Weapons shouldn’t have feelings. 

  No, no, I’m not a weapon. I’m not a goddamn weapon. I’m a drone, yes, but I have feelings. I was once like everyone else. Once. Once upon a time. Once upon a time, I was a Worker. N……he and I…….we can’t have that. Not anymore. 

  Micah?

  There’s maybe, just maybe, a chance. 

Chapter Text

  “The prom?” I ask. “Why do I need to go?”

  “Uh, because I’m asking you as your, like, only friend,” Lizzy says. “Look, I don’t normally ask people to come with me, mainly because they just go, but I’ve decided to be nice and see if you wanted to join in. You coming?” 

  “I don’t…..have a dress…..” I say, “not a prom dress, at least. You got a plan for that?”

  She eyes me, probably noting our differences in height, and sighs. “I’m sure you can find, like, something.”

  I sigh, and she waves at me as I prepare to leave. Right before I leap off the roof, she grabs my hand and says, “Wanna sleep over? Doll’s coming. We can all hang.” 

  My mouth opens, but I nod. “Y-yeah, sure.”

  Lizzy squeals, grabs my hand, and drags me down to her room. We pass by the drone who must be Doll because she joins us, her red eyes boring into me for a second. She smiles at me, and she suddenly comes off as vacant yet happy. I swallow down the mass of feelings threatening to overtake me, and Lizzy doesn’t seem to notice. 

  She throws the door open and pulls me past her father, who doesn’t even question what’s going on. Regardless of how often Doll must be over, I’m still a walking time bomb. He shouldn’t be so calm, but he is. 

  What am I thinking? I’m pretty sure he’s a teacher. Actually, I’m pretty sure Uzi rambled about him once or twice. 

  “Liz,” he says, and she stops. “How long will these two be over? You remember the mess you and Doll made, ri-“

  “I dunno,” she replies, rolling her eyes. “It’s fine. We won’t do that again.”

  He sighs but stays silent, and she hurries us into her room and locks the door. Doll sits on her bed and swings her legs slightly, and I take a seat on a chair. Lizzy puts one some music, grabs a brush, and sits behind the other Worker. She chatters about school gossip, and I wonder what school would be like. I watch, but after just a few seconds, I can’t do that anymore and take note of what’s in her room. 

  The dress I gave her is hanging on her closet door next to some other clothes, and I smile for a moment. I sit there, waiting for Lizzy to suggest something, but she seems way too interested in spending time with Doll. 

  Why was I even invited? 

  This is lame. 

  WHACK!

  I hit the ground, hands morphing into claws, and when I stand up, I see Lizzy wink innocently. Growling, I raise my talons up but stop. She’s holding something. A…..

  Pillow?

  She hurls it at me, and I duck. Doll grabs one and swings, knocking the blonde Worker off the bed. 

  I’ve never been in a pillow fight before. How do I win this? Point system? Total death? How? 

  I grab the pillow and smack Doll with it, and she glares at me and returns the favor. Lizzy laughs, and I shut her up with a well-placed strike. Doll responds by hitting me so hard that I actually fall over. 

  My leg gets caught awkwardly beneath me, and I hiss through my teeth as pain radiates up. Lizzy hurries over to me, but I get up before she can attempt to help. Doll stares at me from her place on the bed, and she reminds me of a wolf.

  “Wow, Doll, that was amazing! I never thought you’d knock V over like that!” She hugs the red-eyed Worker, who simply smiles eerily. Her expression tells me to stay away, and I glare right back. “Ooh, let’s go have some fun! C’mon!”

  She drags us out, and she points at a Worker girl in an outfit she deems unacceptably ugly. She swipes a paint bucket from an apartment and hands it to me, giving me a big smile. I don’t know what she wants me to do, but I throw it at the poor girl. She squeals when the paint hits her, and Lizzy snickers and takes a picture. I make sure to get out of the way just in time. 

  We do things like that throughout the night, and as I go along with them, I feel myself smiling and having……

  A good time.

Chapter Text

  Knock, knock. 

  I finish up with the chain and tap it to make sure it’s cold before calling out, “Yeah, come in!” N walks in, and my tail goes straight. “N?”

  “V!” He hugs me, then pulls back and says, “Oh, I’m so glad you’re okay! I thought about coming back sooner, but I figured you’d want more time and decided to stay away a bit longer!”

  I give him a relaxed smile and say, “I’m doing just fine. How are you, though? Feeling better now?”

  He nods and sits on the floor, and I’m thankful the chain is blocked. Even if I did spend the past hour cooling it down, the idea that it might still be red isn’t a great one. 

  ‘I’ll have to break it again if I go to the prom.’ I try to not shake my head. ‘Shut up.’

  “I’m fine! There were a lotta Workers around, so I had enough food. Did you? I hope two corpses were enough, I didn’t know how fast you’d go through ‘em!” he chirps, and I hide my smile. 

|•|

Two days later

|•|

  It’s time. 

  “So, N, I’ve thinking about something,” I say as casually as possible. It’s now or never. 

  “Oh, what?” He cocks his head, and I swallow down my anxiety. 

  “You ever get tired of wearing the same outfit? Like, what if we had something else to wear,” I say. “Because this gets pretty boring to wear, you know.”

 
  “Hmm, I bet I could find something. When should I go out?” he asks. “Tonight would be a good idea.”

  I can hear Lizzy as she tells me when the prom is, and I nod. He perks up and heads back out, swiping the empty corpses as he does so. I stretch out, then he’s suddenly poking his head back down. 

  “What type of clothes should I go look for?” he asks. 

  “Something nice,” I say, and he vanishes again. I get to work on breaking the chain yet again, silently cursing myself out for being stupid and melting it back together. No, it’s not my fault, it’s N’s. 

  That……that can’t be true. 

  Once it’s finally broken, I make a promise to myself to never do anything to get chained up again, and I move it back into place. My stomach rumbles, and I get the alert that I have half a tank of oil left. That should be enough for tonight, and I’m willing to bet that killing all the Workers will drain me some more. It’s perfect. 

  The minutes turn into an hour, then an hour and a half, and he’s still not back. I need to go meet up with Lizzy and Doll to get ready, and I don’t have a way to contact them. This sucks, and not even the good kind of suck. 

  What’s Uzi doing? Is she going to the prom? 

  I hope not. I know N liked hanging out with her, and I’d hate to crush him like that. 

  “If she’s there, then I’ll…….” I don’t know what to even do about the little Worker. “I’m sure her friend will get her out of the way. What did he look like again? Green eyes?” 

  I’m pretty sure he’s the one I attacked, but it’s been several months since then. Oh, well. I’ll just wait and see if she’s even there before I make a plan. 

  ‘She’ll just kill you. She killed J.’ 

  “Shut up, you stupid idiot,” I whisper, smacking my cheek. “It doesn’t matter. She can’t bring a gun to a dance, that’s a terrible idea. Where would she even put it?” 

  My tail flicks, and I wait. Finally, N comes trotting in, holding two skeletons wearing fancy clothes. I hide my frown upon seeing the skeletons but say nothing about them. I don’t know why, but it’s weirdly disgusting. 

  “Wow, N, great work.” I wink at him, and he blushes a bit. 

  One is wearing a black suit while the other has a red, sparkly dress on. Just looking at it makes me feel happy, and I struggle to hold back a smile. N raises his hand for a fist bump, and I return the gesture. 

  “Prom will definitely be a hit,” I say. 

  N’s eyes widen, and I bite my tongue. He looks from the clothes to me, and I lean back in my chair. “That’s why you had me find these?!” he exclaims. “We can’t interact with the Workers anymore, V. We’re too dangerous.” He sits down, hunched over, and I force myself to ignore his sadness. 

  “Uh, exactly! We show up fabulous, the sad purple one lets us in ‘cause she has no friends, then we kill everyone there and pop her little head off!” I mime the last action, and N makes a quiet sound. 

  “I’m not freeing you for prom murder, V!” he retorts, standing up. “Not after J went all holo-spooky-snake-crab, and we maybe grew up in a haunted mansion! Aren’t you scared that we don’t know who we even are!” 

  I swivel the chair away, head down, staring into the mirror. N’s reflection shifts, softening, and he puts a hand on my shoulder. 

  “Promise me you and that purple thing will stop prying into that stuff,” I say quietly before facing him again. “It’s better to not remember. Look, if you free me now, I promise that we’ll only kill what we need to survive. It’s just me and you, N.” 

 
  “V……” He hugs me again, and my arms fall to my sides. “What aren’t you telling me? Please, we only have pieces, right? Wouldn’t it be better if we shared them? What do you kn-“

  He topples over, head rolling away. An error message pops up on his visor, and I sigh. 

  “What’s best for you. Even if you hate me for it,” I murmur, saluting his body. I exit the ship and get close to the outpost when it hits me. “I forgot the dress. Oh, goddamn it. Is it that important? Lizzy can just…..let me borrow one, right?” 

  I turn around and head back to grab the dress. It’s safely in my grip, and I enter her room via window. However, she’s nowhere to be seen. I glance around, and when I don’t find anything right away, I start digging through her desk. Nothing, nothing, a whole lot of nothing. I whack it, and something drifts onto the floor. 

  “Hmm.”

  It’s a pink, sparkly note telling me to meet her in Doll’s room and the apartment number. I grin and pocket it before finding my way over there. It’s not too far away, a fact I’m grateful for, and I slip inside easily. There’s several sheets up inside, some a bit stained. 

  Crunch. 

  I step back and examine the thing I just crushed, and I tilt my head. It’s a robotic roach, but I shrug and pop it into my mouth. Bleh.

  LARGE QUANTITIES OF OIL DETECTED.

  “What the f…….” I’m cut off by Lizzy approaching, and she waves at me.

  “Is that your dress?” she asks, and I nod. “It totally fits you. C’mon, I’m supposed to be helping Dolly get ready. By the way, Uzi’s in the master bathroom, so don’t go in there. She doesn’t know you’re here yet.”

  She turns to leave, and I just stand there, majorly confused. 

 LARGE QUANTITIES OF OIL DETECTED.

  “That’s weird and concerning,” I mumble. Maybe it’s because of all three of them? No, that can’t be it. My alert doesn’t go off in the Spire, so why is it going off now? 

  I check my surroundings, find the second bathroom, and slip my jacket off. I pause, wondering what to do with it, then shrug and pull my dress on. I run a brush through my hair and smile at my reflection. I look perfect for prom murder. The idea makes me start to laugh, and I hear someone outside the bathroom stop walking. I shut up, but they don’t move until a few more seconds pass. 

  This is the weirdest night by far. Whatever. I get another pop-up that states I have less than half a tank left, and I go to find Lizzy. She’s on the couch, already in the pink heart dress and a matching hard hat, texting someone. 

  “You look so cute,” she says, not glancing up. “Okay, so the plan is that you’ll come down from the skylight to make the best entrance. Got it? Good.” 

  “Fine,” I say. Since when was there a plan? I shake my head and scold myself. If J was here, she’d be listening to Lizzy and giving constructive criticism about how awful it is. “I’m excited for this.”

  She gives me a look I can’t read, but Doll comes out not a second later. She rushes to give her a kiss, and I turn away. Uzi’s still here, and I can’t let her see me. She’ll go rushing straight to N, and I refuse to let him stop me. 
 

Chapter Text

  I sit on the rafters and watch as the Workers dance and chat, my tail swishing in time to the music. Lizzy and Doll have been dancing together since they arrived, not allowing anyone to take the other away. Even the green-eyed drone hasn’t tried to cut in, and he seems to be close to them. 

  Uzi should be arriving soon, so where is she? Maybe it’s for the best if she doesn’t show, I wouldn’t hesitate. 

  I let myself sway, and a memory hits me. I try to ignore it, but it swallows me whole. 

|•|

  N leads me upstairs, and I follow, staying as quiet as possible. He brings me to the library, and we begin to dance. The live music from below is beautiful, and I don’t want to ever stop. My dress floats around my legs as he twirls me, and I smile shyly at him. The door opens, and I see a flash of yellow eyes before it shuts again. 

  Cyn. 

  She’s been acting stranger these past few days. 

  I look back to N, and his visor displays a bouquet of roses. I giggle, and he switches it back. He spins me around, catches me last second, and brings me to a dip. I stare up at him, mouth open in shock, blush marks appearing. He winks, and I know I begin to blush more. A yellow light blinks in the corner of my vision. 

  Creak……

  “N!” I shove him out of the way before it crushes him, and I topple backwards. “Ow.”

  “V! Are you okay?!” He climbs over the shelf and grips my hands, checking me for any injuries. “What happened?” 

  “It…..it just fell.” My eyes widen. “We have to get it back up! Now!” 

  He nods, and we get to work. The shelf is by far the heaviest thing I’ve ever had to lift, and I hear my wrist joints cracking a bit. I grit my teeth and keep going. We struggle for what seems to be an eternity, but we eventually get the shelf back up. He goes to get a ladder, and I re-shelf books I can reach. I don’t know where they went, but I do my best to try and figure it out. When he comes back, I gesture to him and point to the upper shelves. 

  I hand him the books, and he puts them back in place. It takes even longer due to none of us having ever read through these before, so we really have to guess. 

  The music below has stopped, I don’t want to know what that could mean. It’s not even eleven. All it would take is one of Tessa’s parents coming in here to finally be scrapped. Please, no, I don’t want to be scrapped. I don’t want N to be scrapped. 

  Footsteps. 

  We share a glance, and we run. He points to another ladder, and I climb it first. He follows and pushes it to the side, leaving us on a high shelf. We watch as two guests sweep through the library, lean against a shelf, and start making out. They’re both young, maybe early twenties, and I recognize one as Cress. The young man isn’t anyone I know, not that I really care. If he was invited, he’s probably as nice as the other guests. 

  N leans down and grabs some books as quietly as he can, and we sit and read until they leave. 

|•|

  “Listen up, nerds,” Lizzy says into the microphone, breaking me out of my memory. “We’re doing this a little early, and since the whole prom court mysteriously disappeared, your queen by forfeit is, uh, this.” She gestures, and I fly down and land. 

  Someone screams, and I smirk to myself. 

  “Chill out, V’s done with the murder and stuff. We’ve been hanging,” she says, and several images get projected above me. All the ones she took with me. “We’re totally besties now.”

  “Yes, best friends,” I say, stalking forward, tail lashing. “So easily manipulated.”

  Her eyes widen, and I begin laughing. No one in the crowd can move, and the knowledge of all the oil in the room makes me want to-

  “Wait, prom queen?” I ask, switching back to my hands. Lizzy points to someone on my right, and I turn to see a girl with a tacky golden tiara on a pillow. “Ew.” 

  “So, forgive and forget, or I’ll get my dad to dock your frickin’ grades! Oh, and you can’t sit with us, Rebecca!” Lizzy yells, pointing to some girl in the audience. 

  The girl looks around, then rolls her eyes. “Fine, I forgive her! Settle.” 

  “Your dress is really cute,” the girl holding the tiara says before she puts it on my head. I groan quietly but look back to Lizzy, who gives me a small thumbs-up. 

  THREAT DETECTED.

  What? Where?

 

  “I can just…..kill everyone after?” I ask no one, staring out at all the frightened faces. All the frightened, delicious faces belonging to oil-filled drones. All the frightened eyes watching me. I did promise N that I’d kill what we need to survive. “It’s not vain, it’s extra sinister.”

  Yeah, that’s it. I’m just prolonging their deaths, letting them think they have a chance to live. Yeah, yeah, that’s all it is. 

  Lizzy gestures to the microphone, and I nod slowly and walk up to it. I can hear them talking, and I think one calls me cute. Little blush marks appear, and I force them away. I tap the mic, and right as I start speaking, the doors fly open. 

  “Unhand them, you fi…..end?” Uzi pauses and turns to N, who shrugs. “I’m confused.” 

  “On second thought, you’re way hotter than Doll! Run, idiot!” Lizzy shouts, and something impales my arm. 

  I cry out, and havoc breaks forth. 

  Drones begin attempting to flee as one makes her way closer to me. 

  Doll. 

  She crushes one, twists the head around on another, and throws Lizzy out the gymnasium window. All while flicking red Solver around. 

  No. 

  “Привет, В. Помнишь меня?” she asks, merciless killing another. The brutality of it all makes me swallow in fear. I’m not going to survive this, am I?

  No, I’m not going to let a stupid Worker like her kill me!

  I swap out my other hand for a gun and fire at her, but she somehow makes a forcefield to protect herself. She doesn’t break into a run, just keeps walking towards me. This doesn’t feel real. 

  N and Uzi are still behind her, not moving. 

  I shriek as she impales my other wrist, and she snaps her fingers. 

  The Disassembly Drone whirls around, seeing Father as he drops his camera. She rushes at him, runs her sword through him. She giggles, talons curling in the air. Father whimpers as she bites him, there’s a bright flash, and she tears his head off. 

  Oh.

 
  I stare at Doll, a mix of horror, pain, guilt flooding me all at once, and she tosses her head. 

  “В любом случае, вы понимаете,” she says, and she gestures to the ceiling. Solver pulls the fan down, warps the blades to be sharper, and I know this is the end of me. She throws it, and I flinch. 

  CRASH!

  What the-

  I peek up to find N, one wing covering me. He glances back at me and smiles, but I can’t return it. He takes a step forward, and Uzi lands on stage and reaches an arm out in front of me. 

  Why? 

  Doll’s taken aback by it, and her visor blinks with a question mark. “Узи, ты действительно встанешь на сторону Дронов-убийц? Я не единственный, кто потерял из-за них семью.”

  What? 

  Wait, that night, the drone with the wrench……Uzi lost family? Because of who? N? J? What?

  “Bite me!” Uzi shoots back. “I’m not dealing with any of this well, but I’m done dealing with this alone. We move forward together or not at all!” 

  Does she really mean that? She just means N and her and Doll, right? Not me. She hates me. There’s no way she’d ever consider including me. Right? I’m in too much pain to think straight. 

  “Мне не нужна помощь!” Doll hurls the fan at us, and N shoves Uzi out of the way. All I can see is him giving her a thumbs-up before it takes us both out. 

|•|

  I groan, my head radiating pain, and I open my eyes. I’m sitting partially up, my legs already reattached to my body. My arms are not, which sucks. I turn to see N in a similar condition, and I can’t stop myself from asking, “What the hell was that?!“ 

  “What was what?” 

  “You saving m-“ I bite my tongue and look away, cheeks burning bright yellow. “Never mind.”

  “Hey, whose arm is this?” he asks, picking up the moving limb. 

  “Mine!” I snap, biting it out of his grasp. 

  “You look like garbage,” someone says from my right, and I turn to glare up at Lizzy. 

  “You frickin’ traitor,” I hiss, though muffled. 

  She snatches the arm up and keeps it out of my reach. “As if you weren’t using me to try and kill everyone, Miss Petty. Uh, where does this go?”

  “Thank you, Lizzy!” N chimes in, and we turn to him like hawks on prey. 

  “Shut up, loser!” 

  She kneels down and presses my lower arm to the upper part and waits for it to reconnect, looking deeply annoyed. She hums, and once it’s together, she moves on to the other pieces. I stretch, testing that everything is working just fine, and hiss at her when she tries to repair N. She rolls her eyes and mutters something about getting oil on her dress. 

  “Thanks, V,” N whispers. 

  “No problem,” I say. “C’mon, let’s go. Uzi’s probably getting beaten to a pulp right now. A nice, sweet, oily pulp!” 

  After making sure Lizzy isn’t watching, N whispers his plan to me. I smirk and salute him, then head back up to the rafters. Uzi’s actually not doing too badly, though she does take a knife to the hand. She pulls it out, which freaks out Doll badly enough that she seems to reconsider her actions. Uzi cackles, and I train my gun on the infected Worker. 

  Take the shot?

  I’ll wait. 

  Doll makes the tables move, and Uzi leaps on one to get higher. She continues climbing even as the other girl forces them back to the ground, then she jumps off. She spins through the air, and her foot slams into Doll’s face. The second Worker hits the ground, and Uzi lands on the stage. 

  A short curse is spat out, and Doll shakily rises up. She wrenches wires out from the stage, curling them around Uzi, and grabs a table. She hurls it at the smaller girl, and a sudden missile blast knocks it off course. N drops down and helps Uzi, and she swipes at his arm. Rude. 

  “Quit saving me!” she yells. He responds by grabbing her and spinning her as a knife is thrown at them. They go into a dip, and she picks up the knife and throws it back at Doll as he blasts her with another missile. 

  The pose they’re in……it’s like a dance’s finale. 

  She says something to him, but my eyes hollow as I see Doll return the lovely gesture with yet another table. How many are there?! 

  “Okay, your turn!” N shrieks as he throws Uzi out of the way. It crushes him against the stage, and I wince. 

  Uzi grabs a knife off a nearby table and hurls it at Doll, who raises her hand to protect her face. The blade hits something on her wrist, and her eyes widen in horror. She begins to back up, and I move, landing behind her. 

  Uzi’s mouth opens, and I fire. 

  Doll hits the ground, oil spilling out around her head. I know I looked awesome doing that. 

  “V!” Uzi’s annoyed voice is not what I expected, and I tilt my head at her. “We needed her for answers!”

  “What? She’s fine!” My fingers curl in hesitation, and I wince. “A-a little tuckered out…..”

  N runs up to us and points at me, shouting, “V did that on purpose! She’s hiding mystery stuff and being overdramatic about it!”

  I punch his arm and glare at him. “N! You suck!”

  “You!”

  N and I point to each other, expressions more like that of squabbling children. Uzi’s not impressed, and she holds up the thing Doll was wearing: a bracelet. 

  “Lucky for you, we’re not done yet!”  Uzi says.

Chapter Text

  “What is that? Other than a bracelet, I mean,” I say. “Why is it so important?” 

  “I’m willing to bet that it belonged to her mom, Yeva. It similar to my mom’s necklace,” Uzi says. Yeva? Oh, 048. “Let’s see if her apartment can tell us anything.” 

  N squeezes Uzi in a hug, and I do a double take at them. They’re both dressed up, N in the suit he found, and Uzi is a cute black dress. Of course they’re matching, what else would they be doing? Uzi bats at him, and he backs off. 

  Uzi gestures to us, and we side-eye each other. N nods, and I groan. “For the record, I doubt we’ll find anything useful in some Worker’s crappy apartment, so I’ll see you later.” 

  “What, no, you’re coming with us,” Uzi says, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward. N takes her other one, and she drags me and leads him to the apartment. I can’t help but hide a small smile. 

  “Whatever you say, kid.”

  “Bite me!” 

  My cackle echoes as we leave the gymnasium. 

|•|

  Uzi throws the keycard up and catches it, repeating the actions as we walk. N’s been rambling on about dog breeds, and it’s surprisingly relaxing. Then again, almost anything is nice after surviving a murder attempt. 

  What’s Micah up to? I’ll try and stop by soon and talk to him again. Maybe I’ll bring N so Rose can have some company. Why does she hate me and like him? Oh, whatever. That’s the case for just about everyone I meet. Rose, Uzi, somehow not Lizzy. 

  “Okay, we’re here!” Uzi uses the keycard and opens the door, and we’re greeted to the sight of Doll’s apartment. “Holy, crap.”

  The sheets have been pulled down to reveal a nightmare. A roach infested, oil-stained, Hellish nightmare. The nightmare I found days ago. Drones are strewn around, some missing limbs, some torn beyond recognition, some just mere scraps. Clothing, hair, appendages, and more are scattered like gruesome flower petals. Missing posters fill her waste basket, all reporting the prom court girls. 

  On one hand, a part of me shudders at the sight of it. It’s no different from the Spire, yet it is in a way. On the other…….

  “Heh, nice,” I say. 

  On the other, it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet. I’m running low, and I swipe an arm to chew on. 

  “Uh, self respect!” Uzi snaps, yanking it away from me. “God, you’re a mess.”

  N hesitantly creeps into the room and stays clear of the bodies. Uzi follows close behind, and I see her hand brush his. I swipe a spare hand and crunch down on a finger, ignoring how Uzi shakes her head and mumbles something under her breath. What? Unlike her, I need food. 

  “Was she…..eating them?” Uzi asks softly, peering into a pot of oil and limbs. She stares at it for way too long, and I watch her before turning away. There’s a locked door, and I jump back and prepare to shoot. 

  Whoosh. 

  “I think……we found her folks,” N murmurs from behind us. 

  I turn, and I’m greeted with the pair of drones I killed years ago. I exhale and grab a glass of oil, swishing it the way I’ve seen Louisa do with wine. I down some, and N shoots me a glance that makes me giggle. 

  “Literally, didn’t even taste that good,” I say. 

  “V, you kinda suck,” he says disapprovingly, and I can’t help but laugh. 

  “Yeah, I’m not doing okay!” I chirp, popping a robo-roach into my mouth. When he looks away, I grimace and spit it out. They taste so disgusting, I’m never eating one after this. I don’t care if they’d ever be all that’s left, I refuse to subject myself to this again. 

  Uzi climbs over the counter and joins us at the dinner table. What a strange little family we make. I sit down and drink more oil, mimicking the fancy ladies Louisa would love to have over. 

  “This really wasn’t helpful, sorry, guys,” Uzi says quietly. “I mean-“

  “Как раз к ужину.”

  The lights go out. Red lights blink. Purple?

  A gasp. 

  My hand switches to a gun, and I point it at the source of purple light. The main lights come on, and I’m taken aback to find I’m pointing it at Uzi. 

  I’m not the only one who’s shocked. Not the only one filled with fear. 

  Doll’s eyes are wide, trained on the bullet surrounded by red and purple Solver. It struggles against the opposing forces, and it begins to break. The red vanishes, and Doll draws back in transfixed horror. 

  “Я-мне тебя жаль. Обещаю, я помогу тебе, когда найду то, что ищу. Мне очень жаль. Ты не заслуживаешь этого,” the infected drone says. She makes a cross gesture, and Solver flickers around her as she steps back again. 

  “Oh, don’t you dare!” I shout, taking to the air, ready to shoot. 

  “Doll, what?!”

  “Wait, come back!” 

  She disappears, and the bullet hits the floor. Uzi picks it up, studies it, then groans. 

  “I HATE IT HERE!” the Worker shouts. 

Chapter Text

  Uzi groans as her Solver fizzles out, and I cough into my fist. She doesn’t bother to look at me, and I don’t take that personally. Why would I? She tries again, but nothing. 

  “Maybe it would better if you weren’t watching,” she says, turning to face her computer. “You’re too judgmental.”

  “Someone has to be. For the record, this is a terrible idea,” I tell her. “Where did N even go?”

  “I’m not telling you,” Uzi says. “You’ll probably mock him, and that’s the last thing I want to hear.”

  “I’m not J.” I make a face at her, and she groans again and pauses her anime music. 

  “You really wanna do this? You ignored him for years!” she snaps. “Guess who was nice to him! Spoiler, it wasn’t the murderous psychopath!” 

  I glare at her and stand up, and she shrinks back. I take a step forward, her hand twitches, and a pen shoots towards my face. Gasping, I quickly knock it to the side and stomp on it. The object cracks beneath my weight, and I take a deep breath. Uzi flinches, and I huff and shake my head. 

  “Do whatever you want,” I mutter. “I’m not gonna take this crap from you.”

  I slam her door shut behind me, and I make my way into the vents and to Lizzy’s room. Peeking down, I see her on her phone, and I push the covering off. It clatters to the ground, and she shrieks. I drop down, and Lizzy sighs in relief and gets up to hug me. The Worker is nice and cool, clashing against my too-warm casing, and I feel her arms tighten around me. 

  “Where have you been, V? It’s been days since the prom,” Lizzy says, pulling me onto her bed. “I heard something coming from Doll’s room last night. Was that you? I could have just given you the key, you idiot diva.”

  “Wait, what? I only went to her room with N and Uzi, but that was on prom night,” I say. 

  The blonde drone frowns, but it doesn’t last too long. She shrugs and says, “So, Doll went all weird and stuff, right? What was that about? I thought she just wanted some revenge, I so did not expect all the, like, frickin’ mass murder and stuff.”

  “I don’t know,” I say, and some form of guilt hits me. I don’t want to lie to Lizzy, but if it’s to keep her safe, I should. “What I do know is that……she’s a ca……she was eating drones.”

  Lizzy’s jaw drops, and she doesn’t speak for some time. I awkwardly pat her back. She wipes at her visor, and I bite my tongue and squeeze her hand. 

  “Doll? No, no way. That’s so…..that’s not her…..she wouldn’t……no…..” She whimpers, and I don’t know what to do. I scoot away from her, but she turns and tackles me, pinning me to the bed, hugging me tightly. I stare up at the ceiling, sighing silently. “Take me there. I wanna see.”

  “No, you don’t,” I whisper. “It’s better if you don’t see it, it’s a nightmare.”

  “Please.”

  I take her hand and lead her out into the hallway, and she follows without a word. I bring her to the room, pause in front of the door to let her use her keycard, and I step in front of her when it opens. She shouldn’t have to see this, no one should. Lizzy pushes past me, and she gasps. 

  “Oh, my God.” Her hoarse whisper shatters me, and I put a hand on her shoulder. She collapses to the ground, releasing a shuddery exhale, and I kneel down. She lies her head on my lap, and she makes a tiny whimper. “Doll, like, did all this? She ate……all of them? Why?” 

  “I don’t know,” I murmur. “You shouldn’t stay here.”

  She gets up and walks around. “I always thought it was just a mess in here and that’s why she had sheets up, I didn’t think…..” She pauses and examines the pot of limbs. “We were dating…..I was d-dating a cannibal……I feel sick.”

  I go to her, and she flinches and draws back. Fear fills her pink eyes, and it seems like she’s about to say something before she goes silent. She staggers away and breaks into a run, slamming the door shut. 

  Workers are……..so dramatic. 

  It can’t be because of this. It just can’t be. It’s the Workers’ programming. That’s it. 

  I scoop up some oil with a cup and sip it, sighing. Might as well drown my sorrows with some delicious oil. It’s what I saw the Elliots and their esteemed friends would do. What else am I to do after losing yet another friend? 

  So much for promises of working together. 

  Everywhere I go, disaster follows. Maybe I should just leave. 

|•|

  I sit on the roof of the bunker, staring up at the stars. My body is still, and I just don’t know what I’m doing anymore. 

  We were supposed to be killing the Workers, then we’d die. A simple, almost elegant plan. A plan that was ruined by my teammate making a friend. 

  Were we doomed from the start of our miserable creation? Yes. 

  Did it matter? No. 

  I see N’s silhouette fly into Uzi’s room, and I take off before he can hear I left. I head back to the ship and strip out of my jacket, putting on a white sweater dress. It’s soft, and I sit in place for an hour before going off to the cabin. Micah’s sitting outside, and I land beside him. 

  “V, hi. I like your outfit. C’mon inside.” I follow him inside, and he puts on something for us to watch. “How’s it going?”

  “Lot of stuff happened recently,” I mumble. “I went to the prom.”

  “Oh, how’d it go?” He smiles at me, his hand on my knee. “Have fun?”

  “Yeah, if you consider surviving a murder attempt fun,” I say with a shrug, and Micah’s jaw drops. “Something major is going on in the outpost, and I don’t know how to deal with it.”

  He pauses the TV. “What’s going on, V? Who tried to kill you? How can I help?”

  “I survived, so it’s okay. I’m all right, Micah. Do you know of anything called AbsoluteSolver? A weird, glitchy power that gives the user the ability to control objects,” I say. “There has to have been at least two users from around before you two were beta build.”

  Micah snaps his fingers and points at me. “Rose would know about that. Oh, but you two…..” He pats my shoulder, and I nod slowly. “Her dad’s one of the outpost security guards, he’d probably know what you’re talking about.”

  “Thanks,” I whisper. I inhale and laugh a bit. “Let’s keep watching. I don’t wanna go back just yet.”

  “No problem, I like helping my friends out,” Micah says. 

  The movie is full of torture and helpless victims, and I can’t help but see the torn apart bodies from the apartment. A Worker so capable of that kind of cruelty……even if I’m not much better……how? It’s related to the AbsoluteSolver, right? Why? Who created it? Who gave it to Doll? 

  ‘“You killed Nori”’ 

  Nori…..Doorman……

  ‘“I’m not the only one who’s lost family to them.”’

  Uzi’s…….mother? 

  Rose’s dad is a security guard, and if I’m remembering correctly, he must of been friends with Nori and her husband. If he knows anything about this, anything at all, maybe I can help Uzi. Doll…..she’s just a lost cause. 

  Where is Cyn? This is exactly what she would love to see. Somehow, her disappearance doesn’t give me hope about the situation. 

Chapter Text

  Ron. 

  Rose’s dad, the security guard, is named Ron. 

  I sit outside the door, waiting for someone to have heard my knocking. I blow bubbles, bobbing my head to a song and mouthing the lyrics every so often. Nothing. Sighing, I pull out a sparkler and watch it crackle. 

  “Oh, hey, were you waiting long?” a voice asks from behind me, and I bolt upright and turn. I peer inside, and he pulls back. “Wait, Genocide Robot? I thought you were already inside.”

  “That would be N. I’m V,” I say, ignoring his choice of name. “Is Ron going on shift soon?”

  “That’s me. Are you one of Uzi’s friends ‘cause I can let you inside,” he says, clearly placing too much trust in me already. 

  “Actually,” I say, “I need to talk to you. Micah sent me.” 

  Ron pauses and studies me, and I shift in place and wait as he decides on what to do. Eventually, he opens the doors and lets me in. I sit down, and he opens a pack of cards and hands me ten of them, quickly explaining that it’s called Gin Rummy and how to play. 

  “What did you want to talk about?” he asks. “If Micah sent you, then-“

  “Well, that’s not entirely accurate.” My words make him stop, and I hold up a hand to calm him down before he can begin to panic. “I was asking about a Worker who I think you’d know, Nori Doorman.”

  He sighs and grabs a card. “She was always……eccentric, but she and Khan loved each other a lot. I’ll assume that’s not what you’re here for.”

  “When you knew her, did you ever know her to have weird powers?” I collect another card, and I put it with my other Three card. If I get another, I’ll have a set. “Her or Y-Yeva?” 

  “Yeva? Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.” He whistles and taps his fingers on the table. “Is there something I should know about? Something Khan should know about?”

  “Well……Yeva’s daughter isn’t doing so well……” I bite the inside of my cheek before saying, “She attacked students at the prom.”

  Ron nods and gets yet another card. “I heard, and I called Rose to tell her. She seemed to think that you had some hand in it, but Khan confirmed that you and your friends didn’t really. What happened there?”

  I duck my head, and my cards spill from my hands. “I did something a long time ago, and Doll finally caught up to me. That’s not why I’m here. What was Nori like?”

  “I….well, I only saw bits and pieces of her personality. Khan is really the one you should talk to, but I doubt he’d let you in. He doesn’t even like N visiting, and we all love N.” Of course. “I can vouch for you if you’d like.”

  “No, it’s fine. This was a stupid idea.” My tail lashes around my legs, and I try to not throw my cards against the wall. “Doll’s infected with something from her parents, and I’ve been trying to figure out if Nori had the same infection because Uzi might also have it! Ya gonna help me or not?!”

  Ron swallows, and I think he’s just now realized exactly the situation he’s found himself in. He’s stuck in here with me, and if I wanted do, I could make sure no one would hear him scream. He’d be dead and drained before anyone even knew I was here……but would that incriminate N?

  “Sorry,” I mumble. “I just……whatever. Sorry.”

  “Nori was pretty much the exact same as Uzi is,” he says after a few seconds. “She’d help out with Rose if we needed it, step in for us whenever our jobs got to be too much. My wife was a teacher, and I used to work more hours when Rose was younger. We both hated it, but it was necessary.” He holds up his cards, revealing a winning set. I huff, and he laughs quietly and redistributes cards. 

  “Thanks,” I say. “That’s better than noth…..ing…….Did Nori ever call us sky demons?” 

  “Oh, yeah, all the time.” He laughs and shuffles through his cards. “I’m not surprised Rose picked it up. Why?”

  “She calls me that,” I mutter. “I’m not sure she even knows my name.” 

  We both fall silent, and we play several more games. The time ticks on, and one of his coworkers eventually drops by to take over for him. Ron waves goodbye to me, and I return to the vents to chill and figure out a plan. I can hear voices from Uzi’s room, and I stop my thinking in order to listen. It’s only when someone moans that I realize she’s watching something, and I make my way back out and to the Spire. 

  I’m not any closer to figuring this out. I know Uzi and Doll have Solver, and because their mothers were hosts, they obviously got it from them. The question is, who will be the new host? My nonexistent money’s on Doll, but considering 002…….

  Let it be Doll. 

|•|

  Her apartment is bare. It’s as if no one ever kept any notes, which is extraordinarily unhelpful to me. I want to yell, but I’d rather no one know I’m here. 

  I sip some oil from the glass and keep digging through Yeva’s dresser, but she must have really hated whatever she went through. I can’t say I blame her. Being turned into a Solver host against your will is surprisingly not fun, and I’m almost glad she was able to live normally after whatever the hell happened. 

  How did she and Nori even get infected? 

  Grumbling to myself, I shove some things off the top and slam the drawer shut. What a waste of time. I could be finding some prey, but instead, I’m doing whatever this is. Breaking and entering, I guess. Joy. 

  I down some more oil the way humans do shots, and I throw clothes out in order to find something, anything. However, no dice. Yeva, I’ve never regretted killing you as much as I do now. 

  THREAT DETECTED.

  What the-

  I whirl around, but no one’s there. Hissing, I go back to my task. 

  THREAT DETECTED.

  My fingers brush something, and I get rid of the stupid pop-up. A journal. Grinning, I kneel down and start reading it. It’s all in Russian, and my translator isn’t exactly working right now. What fun. I tuck it into my bag and sort through the clothes. None of them are my style, so I put them back. 

  THREAT DETECTED. RUNNING DEFENSIVE DIAGNOSTICS.

  I scan the room, but once again, nothing. Narrowing my eyes, I make my way to the door when something sails past my face and scratches my cheek. I whip around, and Doll is standing there. 

  As I watch, she duplicates a kitchen knife, and I freeze. She raises her hand, and I get into a defensive position. She flicks her hand, and they go flying towards me. I bat my hand, knocking them down. She steps and teleports to me, pinning me to the wall, and she drives a knife into my stomach. 

  I cry out, and she smirks. She rips it out and brings it to my neck. Oil wells up, and I try to not make another sound. She frowns, and I wrap my tail around her leg and send her flying back. She stands up shakily, and I swing the door open and run down the hallway. I can hear her teleporting behind me, and I rush straight to Lizzy’s room and slam the door shut behind me. 

  The pink-eyed drone looks up from her book and blinks at me. “Umm, like, what are you doing here?”

  “Your psychotic ex is chasing me!” I bite out, and she stands up. 

  “Doll? How’s she doi-“

  A knife embeds itself in the door, and she shrieks and jumps back. I move away, and she comes up to me but hesitates. We make eye contact, and she takes my hand and leads me into her room. I stare at her, not understanding whatever the hell is compelling her to do this. Is she crazy? 

  “Anyways, how have you been?” Lizzy asks. “I haven’t seen you since the corpse apartment.”

  Okay, yeah, she’s crazy. 

  “I, uh…..I’ve been fine. You?” I take a seat on her bed, adjusting my bag. “You got over the apartment fast.”

  She shrugs and sits at her vanity. “I just wasn’t expecting my girlfriend to be a cannibal, but I also hang out with you. It’d be super weird if I was, like, that kinda hypocritical. Whatever, it’s fine.” 

  She’s definitely insane. 

  “Okay, then………” I don’t know what to say, so I don’t say anything. 

  “Wanna go find some targets?” Lizzy asks. “I’m bored, and Doll’s probably left by now if she hasn’t broken in yet.” 

  “What? Oh, sure.” 

  She leads me out, and to my surprise, we come across Uzi in the hallways. Well, we see her. She definitely doesn’t see us. Lizzy hands me a large rock from seemingly nowhere and says, “Throw it at her head, it’ll be funny.”

  I glance at it, then at her, and back to it. “Nah, she won’t scream. How about that girl over there? She might be a better target.”

  Lizzy turns and spots the girl and nods enthusiastically. “Emily’s so annoying, she thinks she’s the purest drone on Copper-Nine. It’s so insufferable. Yeah, she’s a better target.”

  I throw the rock at her, and she does scream. Uzi jumps, her Solver activating, and my eyes widen. She waits for a few moments before settling again, and she heads off to her room. I sigh, and Lizzy squeezes my hand and congratulates me quietly. 

  Going from nearly dying again to whatever this is. I can’t complain. 

  She guides me through the bunker, and we wreak havoc on any unsuspecting drones we see. All of them are her classmates, and one in particular stands out due to her cheerleading uniform. She was the one Lizzy told couldn’t sit with her. What was her name? Rebecca? Yeah, I think that was it. We dump paint on her. I don’t even know where the paint bucket came from. What I do know is that her scream is hilarious. 

  It’s nice to hear the drones screaming without killing them. It’s not a sound I get to hear often. 

  Lizzy and I return to her room, and she throws dress after dress, outfit after outfit at me. I wear a pale pink, ruffled dress, and she smiles and says, “You look, like, so totally hot in that, V.” 

  I feel myself blushing, and she laughs and does my hair. She ties it up with black ribbons like what J had, and I watch her. She’s skilled and takes very little time to complete the task, and she steps back before hugging me and kissing my cheek. I blush even more. 

  She turns on some music, and she starts singing along. I wait for a second, then join in. She laughs and tugs me over to her bed, and the air feels strangely warm. Is this what Doll was used to? Was this normal for her? Is Lizzy desperate for a friend? No, she has several. I’m just……

  I’m her friend. 

  She kisses my cheek again, and my mind shuts up. I’m more than willing to stay here, sing, be her friend. It’s not like I have many others, right? 

|•|

  The little drone looks up at me and smiles. “My name is Cyn.” 

  “I’m V,” I say, intertwining my hand with hers. She giggles and breaks apart, then hugs me tightly. “Your name isn’t just a letter.”

  “I know. My old owners gave it to me.” She hums, and I hug her back. “You’re very comfortable.”

  “Oh, thank you.”

|•|

  N and I watch as Cyn wanders around the yard, trying to catch butterflies. He’s making flower crowns for us, and J is pushing Tessa on the swing we built for her. The little Worker jumps up, and I see her grab something from the air. She rushes back to us and holds her hands out for us to see. 

  A smashed butterfly is what she holds, and I click my tongue in sympathy. 

  “It broke,” she says, tone downcast. “I’ll try again, Big Brother N. I didn’t mean to break it.” 

  He pats her head, reassuring her kindly, and she drops the insect to lean into his touch. I squeeze her hand, and she sighs and wipes her hands off on her dress. 

  “It’s okay, Little Buddy. We all make mistakes. I bet you’ll catch the next one just fine!” N exclaims. 

  Cyn beams at him, and her yellow eyes flicker. 

Chapter Text

Two months later

|•|

  I can’t see. Everything’s black. I can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see, can’t see-
  

  “C-can you hear me? Hello? M-my name’s Tessa. What’s your name?” a teen girl with an Australian accent asks. 

  “I-I…..I think it’s V-V. H-help. I-I can’t see.” 

  “Your visor’s cracked and full of water, that’s why. I-is it all right if I touch you?” 

  “Wh-what?!”

  “I wanna help you out, okay? Can I?” 

  “Y-yeah.” 

  Warm hands touch my shoulders, and the girl pulls me out of wherever I am. I knock her down, and she gasps and groans under the sudden weight. I want to cry, but I might as well already be doing that with all the water dripping down my face. The girl helps me up, and I limp with her back to wherever she’s planning on bringing me. 

  What am I doing here?

  
  “Tessa, welcome back!”

  “Thanks, K. Is C anywhere? I need some help,” the girl says. 

  “C! Get over here!” the other drone calls out. 

  More hands touch me, and the two bring me to a room. The girl removes my soaked clothes and towels me off, then unscrews my visor and lets the water drain. I shudder, and she murmurs something into my audio processors. 

  “Is everything okay, boss?” someone asks from outside. 

  “I’m all right, J. I’ll be out in a few hours!” 

  “If you say so.” 

  “Are you doing okay, l’il gal?” Tessa asks me. 

  Unable to speak, I just nod. 

|•|

   N nudges my shoulder, and I open my eyes. He hands me something, and I stare down at a flyer for a camp. 

  Camp 98.7. 

  Wait, didn’t Micah mention that before? 

  ‘“There’s a camp somewhere around here, I think it was called Camp 97.8, but I heard something weird happened some years ago.”’

  “What’s the plan with this?” I ask, yawning. “Does Uzi have some insane idea?”

  N sits down and says, “Yeah, she thinks she could find something related to AbsoluteSolver, and guess what I got!” 

  “A puppy,” I say dryly, and he shakes his head and leads me outside. Adorning two skeletons are……camp counselor outfits. A green shirt and shorts and a wide-brimmed hat alongside what I can assume is the guy’s variant. I chuckle and turn to him. “I call the green one. You can take the one with the brown shorts.” 

  N beams and hugs me before grabbing his outfit and changing into it. I do the same, and we head over to Uzi’s place. She’s on the roof and holding her backpack, and when we land, she says, “I have to go with my class, so sorry about that, guys. My teacher, he wouldn’t let me go alone, which is so not the plan! On the bright side, this might help us catch Doll.”

 “It’s okay, munchkin,” I say. “We’ll be right behind you.” I laugh, and she swats at me. N shakes his head, and I roll my eyes. “You guys are so lame.”

  “Wait, what are you wearing?” Uzi asks. “N, did you do this?”

  “Yep! I thought it’d be fun to dress up for the occasion again!” he exclaims. “Right, V?”

  “Sure, why not,” I say. 

  Uzi squeezes N’s hand before heading down and off to her school. I exhale and sit down, tail curling around my waist. N sits beside me, and I turn to him. “U Ok?” pops up on his visor, and I sigh and nod. He pats my back, and I feel myself smile a bit. 

  “Golden retriever are known for being loyal and also having gentle mouths,” he says. “That’s why-“

  “They’re good with kids,” I finish in a soft voice, and N grins at me. “I still remember that. When should we…..leave?” 

  “Oh, now’s probably a good time,” he says. “It’s quite a flight over. I went scouting yesterday, and it’s definitely not a quick trip.”

  “Right,” I mumble. Is it really so hard to include me in stuff? The two of them are inseparable, and I’m……I bite my tongue and stand up. N follows, and he takes off first. I follow, holding my scoutmaster’s hat so it won’t blow away. 

 
  The bus beneath us tells us that we’re on the right track, and I land on it and let it carry me. N joins me, and we begin to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. He wins the first few games, but I win the last two. The trip takes another hour, and the two of us share a glance and take to the trees as the students get out. The teacher makes his way onto the cabin roof and sits down on a lawn chair. 

  “Teacher,” one asks, “what is this field trip?” 

  “Yeah, Uzi’s idea,” the teacher replies. 
  
  “Who?” 

  “I’ve sat next to you for years,” Uzi says, and all the students shriek and turn her. I tilt my head. “Bite me! I wanted to go alone! He’s mad at your test scores!” 

  “No year end bonus, no learning.”

  “So, we’re just unsupervised?” the student asks. His voice reminds me of N in a way, and I hate that thought. 

  N nods to me, and we jump out and land, eyes X’s. Everyone yells out, well, almost everyone. Lizzy, Uzi, that green-eyed guy, and a guy holding a magnet all stay still. I hiss, curling my claws, and we straighten up and return to normal. 

  “Welcome, campers!” N exclaims. “Let’s sound off! One, two!” 

  Nothing. They all stare at us like stunned deer, and I swap for my gun and take aim at the annoying student who sounds a bit like N. He hits the ground, and Lizzy immediately kneels down and starts rummaging through his pockets. 

  “That’s everyone! Minus one!” N hisses to me, using his clipboard to cover his mouth. “Come one, we’ve got plenty of fun activities planned, so no sneaking off to investigate stuff!” 

  “Sounds good, N,” the green-eyed jock says. 

 “Anything for my bestie,” Lizzy chimes in, throwing a watch to me and coming up to my side. She turns so no one can see her and winks at me. 

  Still, no one else moves. I roll my eyes, and Uzi clears her throat and takes a step forward. “Y-yeah, they’re, like, my friends, too. They’re cool.”

  Really? I bite my tongue to not smile.

  Her classmates look horrified, and they rush at us. “You can be our friend, little guy,” a girl who I recognize as Emily says to N, and a guy pokes me. 

  “Poor thing’s defective,” the guy says, and I growl and grab his hand. His expression flashes with pain, and I see Uzi glare at me. 

  “Nah, just full of love,” I say as sweetly as possible, my tail curling into a heart. Uzi watches us closely, and to annoy her, I gesture to N. “This one’s a pilot.”

  “Oh, wow, a pilot,” Rebecca says, looking deeply uncertain as to what that is. 

  “To the bunks!” N says, and he leads most everyone away. Uzi gives us one last look, then a thumbs-up, and she turns and leaves. 

  Lizzy takes my hand in hers, and she whispers, “That counselor outfit looks, like, so good on you, V.” 

  I clear my throat, trying to ignore how nice those words make me feel. She winks again, and I don’t know what to say or do. She seems to have moved on fast from Doll. Too bad I can’t…..I shouldn’t get involved with any Worker. 

  His smiling face flashes through my CPU, and I try to ignore it. Workers are nothing but trouble. That’s something N needs to learn more than me. Even if it hurts him, it’ll be better in the long run. Even if Uzi’s not that bad………for a gremlin, that is. 

  N leads the group to the frozen lake, and the students hop into canoes. Some pick them up, and they begin something called Canoe Wars. It seems like they have to ram a different team, so I settle into a canoe with Lizzy as her team’s leader. N joins as the other leader, and a few other students play a form of hockey on the other side of the lake. 

  “So, are you single?” Lizzy asks, curling up beside me. 

  “I’m not having this conversation,” I say, and she hugs me and points to N’s canoe. 

  “Okay, whatevs. Wanna ram him?” Her pink eyes are alight with mischief, and I tug her ponytail and smile. 

  “Duh!” 

  It’s always the girls with pink eyes who are into cannibalistic serial killers, I see. Weird. 

Chapter Text

  Canoe Wars goes on for a while, but eventually, I get bored and leave the group. There’s a creepy abandoned cabin nearby, and I saw purple lights in the windows. I head towards it and go in through a broken window and crawl onto the ceiling. 

  Uzi’s inside, gasping and panting, struggling to open her backpack. I see a limb inside, and I shudder. It’s begun, hasn’t it? The blinding hunger, the urge to consume and leave nothing behind. Poor girl, it’s not even for anyone, least of all a Worker drone. 

  “Tick tock!” I sing, dropping down and getting close to her. 

  “H-hey, s-stupid idiot,” Uzi manages to say, barely shoving the backpack behind her. “Weren’t you just-“

  “You said this camp would help us catch that red-eyed Doll freak. How about more explorey, less watch-from-window creepy?” I hold my talons up for a second to show them off, then place one under her chin. 

  Uzi gulps, eyes in rings, but she swipes my hand down and glares at me. “Working on it! I’m just…..so glad you guys fit right in!” She turns away from me, going to the window and pausing. “Super cool.” 

  She doesn’t understand. How could she? She doesn’t understand. Not yet. 

  I take a step behind her, looming over her, tail poised to strike if needed. “Better to stay distant, though.” I can’t keep a warped yet sympathetic expression away, and my smile feels forced. “Don’t ya think?” 

  She turns, and I do the same, hunching over and letting my arms hang down. She’s looking at oil-stained backpack, and I sigh. She’s just like Doll, too far gone, isn’t she? If I let this go unchecked, they’ll practically be sisters. I can’t let that happen. Not to N. 

  
  “Since I’ll have to kill you next?” I bring a talon to her visor and scratch, and she whimpers from the sudden pain. Guilt floods me, and I back off and head to the direction I came from. “N’s made friends with rocks, by the way,” I say, jumping up onto some broken wood, “he’ll move on just fine.”

  I pull myself up, twirling around. I hear Uzi groan, and I huff and sit down on the floor. What exactly is going on now? Why am I doing this? 

  ‘She’s just infected, V. Not possessed. Just infected. That’s it.’

  It’s not, is it? If Doll’s not possessed, then, then…….

  I want to cry. 

  It’s Doll. She’s the one who is. She must be. It can’t be Uzi. They both have the chance, just a 50/50 chance, but I can only hope it’s Doll. I don’t know what I’d do if it was Uzi. She hasn’t been around us for that long, but she’s already done so much for N. 

  I let a few digital tears escape, then I compose myself and rejoin the students. N seems to have started up a game of charades in the empty camp center, and I take a seat beside the jock from earlier as the kid with the magnet does…..something. 

  “Hey,” I mutter, making him flinch. “What’s going on?” 

  “Charades. You’re, uh, V, right? I’m Thad,” he says. 

  I blink at him. “How do you know my name? I’m not like N, I didn’t exactly make friends with you guys.” 

  “‘Cause you were the one who tried to kill me some months back. I, uh, yeah, please don’t try that again,” he says. “

  Rolling my eyes, I hold out my hand and say, “Fine, I won’t kill any of you unless you step outta line. We got a deal?”

  He shakes my hand, and I watch as the dude up front acts something out. Maybe a sloth….maybe. I point to him and tilt my head, and Thad laughs. 

  “Sam’s some video game character, but I don’t know who,” Thad tells me. “Maybe you know.”

  “Nah, I barely play anything other than shooting games,” I say. 

  The game goes on, and Lizzy takes her turn as Regina George. I shift uncomfortably in my seat, fingers tapping against my thigh. Where’s Uzi? Shouldn’t she be back by now? It’s not like there’s a whole lot in the cabin, right? I swallow down my nerves and take my place beside N and say, “I have an idea, campers.”

  “Oh, what is it?” N asks, lowering his clipboard. 

  “I saw an archery range outside,” I say with a smirk. “Why don’t we see who’s the best?”

  The students murmur to each other and nod, standing up and following us out. N’s tail winds together with mine, and I hide my smile. He takes up a bow and some arrows, and I grab a bow, lift up Lizzy, and fly us both to sit on top of the cabin. She leans her head on my shoulder, and I hold her hand. 

  N fires off a few arrows and says, “Alright, campers! Who wants to go first!”

  Thad nudges a girl, and they two sneak off. Rebecca shoves her boyfriend up, and he takes the bow and attempts to nock the arrow, failing for a few seconds. When he gets it right, he fires it off. It hits the target in the outermost ring, and he groans and passes it to her. 

  “You’ll do better next time, Darren,” N tells him, patting his shoulder. The guy shakes his head and steps aside, and Rebecca hits the same ring, just at the bottom. She huffs and gives it to Emily. 

  Emily hits the second closet ring and hands it to Sam, who misses completely. Sam hands it off to Chad, who hits the very edge of the target. He gives it to Braiden, who gets the closest but still doesn’t hit the bullseye. He passes it to Hannah, and she hits right beside his arrow. They high-five, and N takes it back and shoots off several arrows in quick succession. They all hit the bullseye, and they even land in each other. 

  He glances down at the bow, tail twisting in confusion. “Did I…..cheat?” One of the campers fires off an arrow into his friend, killing him instantly. 

  I roll my eyes and hop down. “That didn’t even kill everyone here. Check this out!” I point it at them all, and they reluctantly clap. Lizzy smirks at me, and I nod to her. 

  “Uzi, get on out here! This troupe’s a team! Wait, no! Inclusive reflexes!” N yells, and I lower the bow and turn to him. 

  “H-hey, everyone!” Uzi comes out from behind a tree, awkwardly waving to us. “I was just, uh.”

  An arrow whizzes through the air, and there’s a quick flash of yellow on Uzi’s visor. She flicks her hands, catching it with Solver, and the arrow ripples and changes, all in the span of a second or two. It hits the ground, now something wholly different, fleshy and red, and begins to flop as if alive. It screams. 

  —a hand with an eye bulging out of it, a maid’s screams, the sounds of slaughter, of carnage, the wails of despair, sobbing, apologizing and pleas, blood and oil splattering—

  No……no……
 

  My eyes hollow, and a ringing sound takes over my audio processors. 

  She…..she’s the Host. Not Doll. Uzi. No. NO! How?! How can it be Uzi?!

  Uzi claps a hand over her eye, and she stares at us all. “Uh, I……ignore all of this! I-“

  The thing keeps moving and moving and moving and screaming, but I can’t. I just can’t move. Something takes over the little Worker, and I try to swallow back my fear. It doesn’t work, and I feel my tail curl around my legs. 

  “I live in the woods now!” Uzi turns and runs, and I just stare. 

  “Who was that?” someone asks, but I can’t think.

  Not Uzi……..not her……

  I grit my teeth and bring my swords out, and N jumps at the sound. “What are you doing?!” He blocks my path, and I snarl. 

  “Let me go!” 

  “No! I’m not letting you hurt Uzi!” he cries, swinging his sword up, stopping mine from cutting his head off. 

  “We do our jobs, and that, that THING leaves us alone!” I hear myself yell, and the words hurt me. Uzi’s not a thing, not like her, even she wasn’t a thing, she’s just scared and confused, just like me, like N, but at the same time……she’s a monster. An infected, possessed monster. 

  No, that’s not true either. I almost wish it was. It’d make my job easier, make this horrible job N refuses to do easier. 

  “What are you so afraid of?!” N strikes my blades, forcing them down, and I gasp. 

  “I’m not afraid.” I keep my words from shaking. Just barely. 

  “I am! Uzi is! She’s a kid, like us, V!” he yells. I stare at him, and he doesn’t back down. Just a few months ago, he would never have done this. Uzi really got to him, changed him, maybe…..for the better. I want to cry. “What is wrong with you?!”

 
  “She’s becoming a problem, N! We all know it!” I yell. “SHE’S A GODDAMN MONSTER!”

  “Who’s ‘we’?” I freeze. He pauses, takes a deep breath, then throws the clipboard at me. It bounces off my head. “Watch over the campers,” he says as he leaves to go find her. 

  I watch him leave, breathing hard, and Lizzy comes up to me. “Hot,” she says, and I glare at her. “Not hot? You’re too good for him.”

  I turn to the campers and say, “Do whatever you want,” then stalk off the other way. I hear Sam keep Lizzy from following me, and I feel some form of grudging respect for the magneted Worker. 

  I take off, huffing and rubbing at my visor, unsure of my next move. I could hunt her down and kill her quickly, but if N were to find out…….

  If she killed me, he’d be upset. 

  If I killed her, I’d be dead. 

  I sit down on a tree branch and begin to cry. Of course. Of course it’s Uzi! Why can’t he see that she’s a problem?! I might be a lot of things, but I’m not the same goddamn monster she is! 

  “Why couldn’t I have just loved him back?” I whisper, voice breaking. “It’d save a lot of problems, wouldn’t it?”

  When I think about N, I don’t feel what I would assume love would be. I just wanna protect him, that’s all. Is that love? It can’t be, I also want to protect Lizzy, and……I want to protect Uzi……from herself…….from the monster that I know is resting deep inside.

  “It’s not love,” I tell myself. “It’s just…..I don’t know.”

  It promised. It promised to leave us alone. She didn't lie.....right?

  I get up and start flying again, sighing heavily. I pass by Thad and the girl as they dance in the snow, and I just keep going. There’s no reason to interrupt them. I should go find Uzi, explain what’s going on. I won’t kill her, she doesn’t deserve that. I’ll tell her the truth, then I’ll tell-

  There’s a scream off in the distance, followed by more. 

  Narrowing my eyes, I change course and head towards it. 

Chapter Text

  Lizzy’s being held up by a ring of Solver, and I feel my eyes widening when I see just who’s the one using it. I stop on a branch, unable to comprehend this mess. 

  She’s not Uzi. 

  Her eyes are an X, her clothes are stained with oil, she’s giggling, and a tail lashes behind her. 

  She tugs Lizzy towards her. 

  NO!

  I push off the branch and throw myself at the pair, landing in between them. Uzi’s legs crash against my wings, and she gasps. Her eyes switch back to normal, but I flare my wing. She hits a tree, and I land on the ground and stalk towards her. 

  “Killing her, not saving you!” I hiss at the blonde Worker, who just groans. 

  “Okay, Mom,” she mumbles. 

  I bring out my blades, and the Worker before me reaches out a hand. I push it aside and stab it into the ground. She whimpers and looks at me with pleading eyes. 

  “New body, same horrors, huh, Cyn?” I ask, raising the other one, preparing to swing. 

  “I……don’t know……who that…..is,” the girl gasps out. “Can I……talk to N?”

  Her eyes flash yellow. 

  “I make sure you can’t!” I strike, and the blade-

  Cyn stands up, cackling, and I swallow down my fear. She rushes at me, and my tail slashes her cheek. She grabs my arm and throws me into the tree, and I shakily stand up. She laughs, and I aim my gun at her and release a hail of bullets. She lowers herself to the ground and comes at me, and I grunt as her fangs bury themselves into my leg. 

  I shake her off, and her tail opens its mouth. My eyes hollow, and it grabs my wrist and tugs. I slash my blade, and the horrific thing hits the ground. She howls in pain, and I stab her shoulder. 

  “V…..please……” Her broken yet monotone voice makes me grit my teeth, and I swap the gun for a missile and take aim. She’s sent flying backwards, and I grab my wrist and reconnect it. 

  “Give up,” I hiss. 

  She lunges at me, hands curling into claws. They rip at my stomach, and my legs scrabble to get her off me. She cackles, and her tail bites down on my tail and rips the canister off. She grabs me and pushes me up the tree, and I send out another missile. At the same time, her tail slams into my head, and it goes sideways. 

  “Ugh,” Lizzy, WHY IS SHE STILL HERE, groans before being sent flying away. 

  I stare down at the possessed drone, power cell beating a mile a second, and I know I’m not surviving this. 

  I’m taking us both out. 

  I bite down on her neck, hard enough that it starts to crack, and she screams. I shove my blade through her shoulder, and she gets louder. Her tail grabs the blade and breaks it, and I cry out in surprise. 

  Cyn stabs my hand, and I attempt to sever it to escape. She catches my other hand and blinks at me, purple eyes staring at something just past me. They shift to me, and her jaw opens up. She bites into my stomach, and I scream. 

  She throws me away from the tree, my hand breaking off, and she picks up the canister and approaches me. I shuffle backwards, breathing hard, and she steps on my chest. She straddles me, the glowing acid shining in my eyes. She moves to stab me, and I flinch. 

  “Up we go! Haha, ow!” 

  What the f-

  I open my eyes to find N standing there, the syringe buried in his hand. He takes a look at her before throwing her up into the air, and her fading scream makes realize I’m not dead. 

  N pops his hand into his mouth and glares at me. “What did I say about antagonizing her?”

  My mouth falls open, and I huff. “You always take her side!” I shriek. 

  He sighs and takes off, and I get up to grab my hand and reattach it. Sitting back down, I wait for the demon to show herself. If she hurts N, I don’t care what I have to do. 

  I bring out my blades and watch the sky for a few minutes, growling as I see her falling down. I stand up, and N isn’t anywhere. 

  That’s it, I’m killing her. 

  I raise my blades and stalk towards her, but N suddenly lands. I take a step back and straighten up, and he hugs her close. Exhaling, I switch back to my hands and grip my arm. 

  “Ew.”

  I turn to see Lizzy, who looks less than thrilled at the pair in front of us. I glare at her. “Don’t patronize me.”

  “What? I think it’s gross all by myself, Miss Diva. God. C’mon, I’m sure Dad’s ready to go by now,” she says, taking my hand. I look back at the two, and they seem to notice us leaving. 

Chapter Text

  The fight plays out in my dream, and I watch as Cyn laughs. Her body flickers, and more scatter around me. 

  One rushes from a tree, and I switch my blade out for a missile—a real one, not the low damage ones I’m used to using—and fire. She squeals as debris rains down on them, but my triumph is cut short by a painful bite to my abdomen. I can’t even scream.

  No one will care. 

  No one does. 

  No one will miss me. 

  I charge at one, and she severs my leg. I spin, falling flat on the ground, and another rips off an arm. I just lie there, oil surrounding me like the world’s worst halo. I can’t even laugh. My other leg is cut off, and a version of Cyn drives my syringe into my stomach wound. The acid bubbles and eats away at everything. I scream like a dying rabbit. My voice box begins to glitch, distort, break. 

|•|

  I awaken to someone shaking me, and I open my eyes to see N. He’s panicking, and I bolt up and grab his hands. “What’s going on?” I ask. 

  “We can’t find Uzi!” he exclaims, tail twisting nervously around his leg. “She just…..vanished!”

  I get off the bed, unsure how I got to what I think is Lizzy’s room, and N hugs me. I pat his back and say, “How about you look around inside the bunker? I’ll look outside.”

  What am I doing?

  He nods, and I open the window and exit the room. It’s nighttime, and the air is nice and cold. Lizzy must have changed me into one of her nightgowns because I’m not wearing the camp outfit anymore, and I force that thought away. I have to find Uzi. 

  Would she even want to see me?

  I may have tried to kill her, but she tried to kill me first. I’d say morality calls this a draw. 

  I circle the building, and to my surprise, it seems like no one else is looking for her. I shake my head and go higher. What’s that? Up there, on the roof? Landing, I walk up to the figure and pause. 

  Uzi’s legs rest over the edge of the building, her new wings wrapping around her. She looks pathetic like this, so small and alone. I don’t want to do anything, not after the fight, but…..

  I go and sit beside her, and her head snaps up. Tears have popped up on her visor, and she whines almost inaudibly. Her wings vanish back into her body. 

  “V?” she asks. 

  “You okay, kiddo?” I stare out at the night sky, at the millions of stars, ignoring how confused she sounds, how confused I feel. “Camp tripping sure went hell, didn’t it?”

  “Bite me,” she mumbles. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

  “I know. Believe me, I know. Wanna talk about it?” I ask, hesitantly putting a hand on her knee. “It might help.”

  She shakes her head, whispering, “N-no.”

  “Then I can talk if that’s fine with you,” I say, and that gets her attention. “I still remember my first solo kill. It was probably the cleanest one I’ve ever done, I just cut his head off. I remember how I felt when I was done draining his oil. 

  “It was like I’d been hit in the stomach. I couldn’t think straight and started panicking. Sound familiar?” She nods, and I squeeze her hand. “I just started crying, then……I think I was laughing. I still don’t understand what happened, but it’s like some part of me decided to kill……..the way I do now. Like it made it easier or something, but I don’t think that’s you.”

  “So helpful,” she mutters. 

  “Look, kid, what I’m trying to say is that if you’re not programmed to kill, you’re gonna have a pretty rough time doing it. Hell, I am, and I still……..never mind.” I glance away, and she brings her knees to her chest. 

  “Can I…….” Her purple eyes find mine, and she pauses to think. “Can I have a……hug?” She sounds the exact same way as earlier, and my heart just…….breaks. 

  I hold her close, almost like she’s a doll, and kiss her head. She makes a soft sound and keeps her grip just tight enough to hurt a bit. That’s when I hear her beginning to cry, and I slowly rock her back and forth, humming. Time passes by, and she falls asleep as the sun starts to rise. 

  Carrying her on my back, I bring her down to her apartment and knock on the door. Her tired father answers after a minute and stares at us in shock. I brush past him and head to her room, lying her on the bed. She refuses to let go of me, there’s a sound, and I turn to find Khan in the doorway. We make eye contact, and he nods. I get into the bed and pull the blankets up, and she holds me like a stuffed animal. She whines ever so quietly, and I can’t find it in myself to leave. 

  Uzi’s not that pathetic, I guess. Just scared. I sigh, wondering about what I’ve gotten myself into. 

|•|

  Sometime after Uzi goes off to school, Khan and I sit in the living room. He has a mug of coolant, and I got a bit of oil from my wrist. We don’t speak for several minutes, and I sip my drink and bite my tongue. 

  “Thank you for bringing her back,” he says. “I was wondering where she’d gone, but I-I wasn’t sure if she’d need space or n-not. Can I ask about the camp? She didn’t tell me anything, but her teacher mentioned something about missing students.”

  I nod, saying, “Something is happening to her, and the camp only forced it to happen quicker. I’m not sure how to explain it, but-“

  “Please,” he says softly. “I just want any explanation.”

  “It’s like she’s…..I guess she’s becoming something like a Disassembly Drone,” I say slowly, carefully, trying to figure it out myself. “I think…..something from her mother infected her, and she’s changing as a result of it all.”

  “Should she…..stay here?” Khan asks, voice breaking. “The two of you are the ones who understand her…….better than……”

  “That’s her decision,” I say after a pause. “I don’t want to speak for her.” 

  He falls silent, occasionally drinking coolant, and I look around the room. There’s a door with a paper labeling it, “Nori’s Kooky Insane Stuff.” With something weird overtaking me, I stand up and head to over it, and he follows me. The room is full of drawings and other random papers, and I pick some up and go through them. 

  One is a sketch of someone who might me, fangs bared, eyes an X. There’s something scrawled messily at the top, calling me a sky demon. Still unnerved by the wording, I put it down and grab another. This one is of four figures in what might be a hallway, scratchy words declaring, “Four enter, three fall.” 

  I shiver and shove it back into the drawer it came up. 

  “This was my wife’s favorite place in the whole house,” Khan says quietly. “She’d sit in here and draw all day long. Yeva understood what she meant, but they would both stay silent whenever Alexei or I asked. Something about having cabin fever and the collars.”

  I tilt my head, tail winding around my legs, and I keep searching. After maybe a few dozen or so papers, they all turn into crazed ramblings and pure nonsense. Khan can’t even offer an explanation for them, and I step out and shut the door. 

  “Right,” I mutter. 

  Khan clears his throat and looks past me. “Did you really kill her? At the prom, Doll said-“

  “I did.” I run a hand through my hair and bite my tongue hard enough to sever the tip, and I swallow it down. “At the time, I felt almost compelled to do it, but now……”

  Do I regret it?

  Almost. 

  I sigh and listen as he says, “I have one more question. Did you stab Nori? With your nanite acid?”

  That night…….

  “No,” I rasp, “but I saw you mercy kill her. I still don’t know who did it.” 

  He nods and drinks more coolant, and we both stay silent. He allows me to watch the TV and sits beside me, and we make occasional small talk. Eventually, Uzi comes back from school, closing a gothic-looking parasol and slamming the door. 

  “V?! Wha-what are you doing here?” she asks. 

  I wave, and she hurries over to me. Khan moves out of the way and into the kitchen. “I couldn’t exactly leave, could I? How’d your day go?”

  She grumbles and lies down, her head on my lap. My eyes hollow, and my hand hovers over her head. I pet her hair, and she makes a tiny, cute noise that makes me smile. We stay like that for a whole movie and a half of the next one, until Khan calls her for dinner. The two join me and eat their batteries and wires, and my hand brushes against hers. When he goes to clean up, she quietly asks, “Are you hungry?”

  I nod, and after a second, she exposes her neck to me. After a quick glance back to the kitchen, I bite down and suck. She groans and holds me in place, and I keep going. 

  “D-does it ever…..get easier?” she whispers, and I stop and break away, wiping my mouth. Uzi looks down, and I move off of her. “Oil consumption, I mean.” 

  I shrug. “Who knows? It’s not exactly like I…..” My words die when I see her expression, and I hug her. “I wish I could say it gets easier, kiddo, but I’d be lying.” 

  “I get it.” She doesn’t let go, and my tail wraps around us both. Her power cell beats frantically while mine is just a beat or two behind it. “Thanks for, like, everything.”

  “No problem. Oh, yeah, sorry for trying to kill you at camp, munchkin,” I say. 

  She groans. “Bite me.”

  I giggle and wrap my arm around her. “Already did.”

  She groans louder. 

Chapter Text

  N springs up from the pile of corpses and charges at me, guns blazing. I let my eyes turn into an X and cut through a barrel with my sword, and he staggers but quickly recovers and ducks to the right. His tail lashes out, and I hiss as it nicks my wrist cone and give it a very fast lick.

  A sharp gust of wind takes his hat, but he ignores it and slashes at me. I dodge, twirling around and flattening to the ground. He chuckles, X flickering, and sweeps his leg to take mine out when I stand back up. I fall, and his blade stabs the ground beside my head. I kick my legs up and hop away from him, tail lashing to regain my balance. I jump onto the airship, then fires a few bullets at him with my free hand. 

  
  He shoots a missile at me, and I bat it away. It explodes, and Uzi shrieks. I hop off, we both stop and turn to her, and she glares at us. 

  “Civilian over here!” She pouts, and I giggle. 

  N and I face each other again, and our eyes switch back to the X’s. My tail lengthens, and it swipes across his cheek. He huffs and fires more bullets at me, and hiss when one strikes my shoulder. He pauses, and I clear the gap between us, knocking him to the ground and placing my sword at his throat. 

  “Great job, V!” he exclaims, and I help him up. He smiles at me, and I look down, fiddling with my scarf. “Uzi, you take any good notes?”

  “Yeah,” the Worker says, “I learned that I don’t ever want to consciously fight V.”

  I smirk, and she rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on, where’s the fun in that? I’m sure you’d be real fun to play against.”

  “N!” She makes a beeline for him, ducking behind him, and he chuckles and pats her head. She peers out at me and sticks her tongue out. 

  I sit down on the chairs she brought with her, and the two join me. “What’s the plan now? Find Doll and force her to help us?”

  “Actually, I was thinking that we could use a little down time,” Uzi says. “After the camp, I kinda just wanna chill, and besides, Thad invited us over for a game night.”

  “Oh,” I say. “That sounds….. interesting.”

  “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Uzi says, and I reach over to playfully smack her shoulder. “Okay, never mind.”

  “When’s the game night?” I ask. 

  They share a glance, and I tilt my head. “It’s tonight,” Uzi tells me. “You’re sure you wanna come?”  

  I shrug, and she exhales. N wraps his arms around us both and makes a cute squeak. I feel myself blushing ever so slightly, and Uzi mumbles, “Bite me.” 

|•|

  I stare at the dress on Uzi’s bed, tail flicking questioningly, and she groans and sits down. “Look, it’s all I could find, okay? Besides, don’t you have a million things to wear at the Spire?” 

  “I’m not wearing anything from there, not to Thad’s apartment,” I murmur. “What if someone recognizes it?” 

  “That’s a stupid concern,” she says, “I thought you wouldn’t care about stuff like that.” 

  I scowl at her, and she raises her hands defensively. After a few seconds, we make eye contact and start laughing. Grabbing the white and purple dress, and I take off my jacket and scarf and slip it on. Uzi claps for a split second, and she grabs a black and purple hoodie with a crow head on it. 

  She gestures for me to sit on the bed and ties my hair up with little ribbons, and I add a bat pin to her bangs. 

  “Hey, V,” she says softly, “do you think you and N could, like, help me? Learn to fly and stuff, I mean.” 

  “Yeah, I’m sure we can do that,” I say, winding my scarf around my neck. 

  Uzi tilts her head. “When’d you get that?” 

  “Hmm? Oh, a friend gave it to me,” I tell her, and she nods and turns on an anime for us to watch. I want to curl up beside her, but I don’t exactly want to wrinkle the dress or ruin my hair. I settle for leaning against the headboard. 

  After what feels like an eternity, N pops his head down from the vents and tells us that it’s time to go. He jumps to the ground and takes Uzi’s hand, shyly mumbling something about her looking nice. She blushes, and I groan and leave the room. When they catch up, she guides us to Thad’s apartment and knocks on the door. 

  “Hey, Zi, N and M’s, V,” he says, hugging the two of them and nodding to me. “C’mon in, we’re just waiting for one more.”

  Thad’s room is painted green, and I sit on his chair while he takes the bed and N and Uzi find spots on the floor. He said we’re waiting for one more, and I mess with my scarf until there’s a knock on the door. The trio falls silent, and I bite my finger when Lizzy walks in. There’s a crunch sound, and Uzi shoots me a glare. 

  “What’s up, nerds? Hi, V,” she says, waving to me. “Thad, what are we playing tonight?”

  He picks up a bottle and puts it on the floor, and we all gather in a square. “Truth or dare, bottle edition. The rules are simple. One person spins, and whoever it lands on has to pick. If you spin it and it lands on you, you can either spin again or let someone ask you. Uzi, wanna go first?”

  “Ugh, bite me, fine.” She spins it, and it goes on for a while before landing on Lizzy. “Truth or dare?”

  “Dare,” she says. “Please don’t make me do something stupid.”

  “Oh, there goes my power trip,” Uzi mumbles before smirking. “I dare you to……er…..switch clothes with N.”

  N looks at Uzi, and Lizzy’s jaw drops. She makes a disgusted sound and says, “I’m not wearing that stupid jacket. It’s not as nice as the one he normally wears, and I don’t want oil on my dress.”

  He looks down at the offending white and rose-print jacket and cocks his head. 

  “It’s your dare,” Uzi says. “Do it.”

  “What if I don’t?” Lizzy challenges, raising an eyebrow. “What’ll you do? Kick me?”

  Uzi just cackles maniacally, and Lizzy, a bit disgusted, drags N out of the room. He waves at us before he vanishes. Just a few minutes later, they return, and I giggle. He’s wearing her pink dress, and she’s in his jacket. She’s even added the little flower pins she was wearing to his hair, and I clap when he sits beside Uzi again. The girl in question blushes a bit, muttering something about anime. 

  “My turn, I guess,” Lizzy says before spinning the bottle. It lands on Thad, and she turns to him with a dangerously wide smirk. “Truth or dare, idiot.”

  “Truth,” he says. 

  “Did you go sneaking off to make out with Silvia at camp?” she asks. “‘Cause, you missed out on so much. Like the bus!” 

  Thad rolls his eyes but smiles a little. “Nah, we were talking about a lot of things. She was telling me about this really great idea she got from a typo, and-“

  Lizzy holds up her hand. “Don’t care. Spin.”

  He does, and it lands on me. We make eye contact, and he blinks. “Uh, V, truth or dare?”

  “Dare,” I say. 

  “I dare you to….let’s see…..man, I don’t know you well enough.” He rubs the back of his neck, and my stomach rumbles. Focus, V. Don’t eat the Workers. “I dare you to do a hundred laps around the bunker.”

  “Easy.” I flash him a cocky grin and open his window to climb out, and I begin to fly. One lap, two, three, ten, twenty, fifty, sixty, eighty, I’m getting tired, ninety, one hundred. I crash land on the floor, and N comes up to me. I give him a weary thumbs-up, and he pats my head. I manage to get up and spin, and it lands on Uzi. 

  “Dare, too, I guess,” she says. 

  Still panting, I inhale, exhale, and say, “I dare you to read the worst fanfiction you can think of.” 

  She rolls her eyes but pulls her phone out of her pocket. “I hate you, V.” In a higher-pitched voice, she reads, “Hi, my name is Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way, and I have long ebony black hair—that’s how I got my name—with purple streaks and red tips that reaches my mid-back and icy blue eyes like limpid tears, and a lot of people tell me I look like Amy Lee AN: if u don’t know who she is get da hell out of here! I’m not related to Gerard Way but I wish I was because he’s a major hottie. Happy?”

  “I regret everything,” I say, deadpan. 

  It’s N’s turn, and he’s asked what dog breed he doesn’t particularly like. The question makes him pause, and his tail stops wagging. He’s left a stuttering mess, and Uzi takes mercy on him by letting him off the hook. 

  “My turn? Cool. Truth,” Thad says, and N hugs him as though that the answer he wanted him to pick. 

  “Do you have a crush on someone?” he asks, tailing picking up speed. Uzi grabs the canister gently, and he smiles at her.

  Thad nods. “Yeah, Silvia. She’s great, and I love hearing her talk about sharks.” 

  “Aw!” N playfully punches him in the shoulder, and Thad chuckles. 

  “Uzi, your turn,” Thad says. 

  “Truth,” the purple drone tells him. 

  “How’d you come up with your railgun? I mean, I never woulda thought of that.”

  She taps her fingers on her leg. “I was playing a game, and you get a railgun at the end of it. I just thought it was a sick-as-hell idea and made my own version of it.” She spins. “Lizzy, truth or dare?”

  “Dare,” the cheerleader says. “I’m bored.” 

  “Hmm……” Uzi looks around the room. “I dare you to let one of us do your hair.”

  She groans but undoes her ponytail and rolls her eyes at us. “Who wants to?”

  We all glance at each other, and N raises his hand. She sighs but lets him sit behind her, and she spins before he can start. It lands on her, and she does it again. 

  “V! Truth or dare?” 

  “Dare,” I say. 

  She narrows her eyes at me, but all she does is say, “I dare you to kiss someone in the room. Doesn’t matter who.” 

  My mouth falls open, and I don’t know what to say. Uzi turns away, and Thad doesn’t meet my gaze. N stops what he’s doing as if to process her words, and I feel my hands balling into fists. 

  “Fine,” I grit out. Standing up, I sigh and head over to N and kneel down, then kiss the top of his head and return to my seat. I hear Uzi huff quietly. “Happy?” 

  “Sure,” she mutters. “Whatever.”

  The game goes on until we’re all tired of it, and Uzi lies down with her head on my lap while the other three play a racing game. Lizzy’s shrieks are entertaining, but hunger begins to strike harder. I swallow it down and do my best to ignore it. N wins the game, and he faces me. 

  “Uh, V, can you follow me for a second?” he asks. “I need to ask you something privately.”

  
  I do so, and he leads me to Doll’s room. We grab some oil, sit on the couch, and I pop a finger into my mouth and bite down as he covers himself with a blanket. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “Nothing, I just figured you were hungry,” he says. “I was, too.” 

  “Oh.” I look away, devouring the hand entirely. He sips his oil from a teacup, and I pause and stare at my oil-covered hands. I get up and pour some into a cup as well and rejoin him. “Well, thanks, and sorry for, you know, kissing you.”

  He waves his hand and chuckles. “Nah, it was a dare, I get it.” A long pause. “What do you think they’re doing right now?” 

  “Probably killing each other.” We break into laughter, and I lean my head on his shoulder. “Thanks again. We should head back…..in a bit.”

  “Yeah.” 

  We stay there until we’re both filled up, and sure enough, chaos has broken out when we return. Thad has ribbons in his hair, Uzi has what appears to be a fake mustache on, and Lizzy is cowering in the corner as they block her in, arms outstretched. N and I share a glance and laugh again. 

Chapter Text

  “V! Don’t just stand there, help me!” Lizzy yelps, reaching out towards me. 

  I flop down on the ground, curling up like a cat, tail by my side. “Nah, it’s funnier to watch this.” As I finish saying that, N bounces over to the trio and joins in. Lizzy whines, and I giggle. 

  Uzi and N look at each other and nod, and he starts to sing, “Ninety-nine bottle of oil on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of oil!” She starts cackling quietly. 

  They break apart from Thad, grab each other by the hands, and start spinning around. 

  “Take one down, pass it around, ninety-eight bottles of oil on the wall!” 

  Lizzy begins to shriek, and the duo hit the ground from laughing too hard. Thad grabs her hand and pulls her away from the menaces, and she mock-glares at me. I shrug, and she rolls her eyes and scoffs but sits beside me. 

  “Where did you two head off to?” she asks. 

  “Oh, we just needed some food,” I say. 

  “L-A-M-E, lame, Miss Diva,” she sings. “I thought you’d be doing some fun things together, but whatevs.” 

  I look at the two as they start spinning again and shake my head, a soft smile creeping onto my face. “Nah, I couldn’t do that.” 

  “What do you mean?” Thad asks as he takes a seat. 

  “Nothing,” I say, waving my hand. 

  “You’re so boring when you’re not hanging out with me,” Lizzy whines. 

  Boring equals not hunting, which makes N happy. I’d rather be boring in that case……maybe…….

  The games stretch on late into the night, and I shift and curl up around a pillow Thad gave me. N’s sleeping on top of his surprisingly sturdy bookshelf, Thad and Lizzy have passed out on the bed, and Uzi has crashed on a nest blankets close to me. 

  I enter sleep mode. 

|•|

  Screams. 

  Liquid. 

  Pain. 

  Who’s screaming? 

  Who’s bleeding?

  Who’s in pain?

  I sob, oily tears staining me. It laughs, so dry and horrific. 

  Let me go. Let me go. 

|•|

  I spin the little drone around, and she giggles and begs to go faster. N watches us from the tree, his favorite book resting on his lap. J pushes Tessa on the swing, and I pick Cyn up and put her on my back. I break into a run, and she shrieks with glee. 

  She nestles against me, and I try to keep her from flying off. All of the sudden, I trip, there’s a crack, and we both tumble in the grass. When I sit up, the world is fuzzy and improperly balanced, and I stagger to get to her. She’s in the bush, crying softly. 

  N rushes past me, and Tessa follows him like a moth to a flame. I stumble over a root and land on my leg. Pain flares from it, and I gasp. 

  “You okay, little buddy?” I hear N ask. 

  “Y-yes,” the little drone answers shakily, but she collapses into another round of tears. “Everything hurts.”

  I pick myself up and make my way to her, and she hugs me. N and Tessa join in, and she pulls Cyn away to help her inside. I’m left sitting on the ground, still unable to see clearly. N takes my hand, and he leads me to where I fell the first time. He grabs something and hands me the broken pair of glasses. I put them on, but they don’t do much. 

  J approaches us and scoffs. “Really, V? God, you’re a disappointment. Come here, I’ll help you.” 

  She brings us inside and to her room, and she gives me another pair. I hug her for a second, and she sighs but hugs me back. N squishes us both, and I laugh. 

|•|

  “Lowest body count eats a missile,” I sing, taking off. J and N aren’t far behind, and I pull my wings in and swoop through the abandoned factory. I hear her cry out in confusion, and N follows close behind. 

  I salute to him as we weave in and out of splintered support beams, and his tail lengthens to try and scratch me. I bat it away with mine, and he grins. His eyes switch to an X, and I let mine do the same. 

  Movement flashes in the corner of my eye, and I giggle. The Worker makes a run for it, but I switch out my hands for my talons and spear them through him. He coughs up oil, and I curl them up through his chest. The drone goes limp, and I wink to N, who blushes heavily and breaks away to the left. 

  I fly up the wide staircase and cut down any Worker I come across, then exit the factory and dump them all in the pile marked by a silver flag. N’s black flag is empty, and J’s gold flag has about three bodies under it. 

  I head towards the nearby park, and a group of teen drones shriek and scramble for their pathetic lives. One faints when she hears me, and I slash her leg off and spear her on a claw. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, more and more. 

  My pile grows, and every time I come back, so has N’s. He must have at least twenty bodies, J has fifteen, and I have over thirty. 

  I see a figure off in the distance, the silhouette belonging to neither of my teammates, and I head towards it. A vaguely familiar female Disassembly Drone in a torn that reminds me of a marionette heads down and disappears from sight. Two more join her, and I feel the overwhelming urge to leave. 

  An eerie symphony of screams finalizes that decision, and I turn in midair and flee, shaking my head to forget everything I just saw. 

  N’s pile has even more bodies, and I growl and head off to find more. 

  I slaughter every drone I see and add them to the pile, uncaring of who sees me. Finally, the two hours pass, and I swoop down and land in front of my kills. N comes back a few minutes later, stumbling on the ice. J joins at the last second, dropping off her last body. 

  She narrows her eyes at me. “V, I wasn’t expecting you to be back so soon. N…….count the bodies, won’t you?” 

  “You don’t….wanna do that?” he asks. 

  “I’m giving you an order, Bozo. Do it.” She snaps her fingers in his face, and his tail curls between his legs. He kneels down and counts all the bodies. 

  “J, you killed eighty-five Workers Drones. V, you killed one hundred and sixteen, great job! I got….wow, I got one hundred and nine. V, you’re the winner!” He pats my back, and I purr underneath his attention. 

  “That can’t be right, count again,” J demands, putting her hands on her hips. “Don’t miscount again.” 

  He does as asked without complaint, and I stare at the bodies with a growing hunger. J smacks me when she realizes that, and I hiss at her. 

  Once again, I come out the winner of our little competition. J turns and flies off, and N gives me a little thumbs-up.

|•|

  
Two days later

|•|

  N removes my blindfold, and I blink at the sight before me. He moves to take off Uzi’s blindfold, and she gasps. A whiteboard has been set up, little notes and illustrations scribbled on it: Angel of Death near me, FLY, EMO GIRL, FLY beside Uzi, YAY near N, and various others. I roll my eyes and lean against it. 

  “Wait, is this-“

  “Flight school!” He throws his arms around her, and she face-palms. He paused and looks down. “You okay, little buddy?” 

  Uzi sits on one of the chairs he brought out and nods, readjusting her beanie. “Bite me! Uh, I mean, yeah. I’m fine, totally fine. Hehehe……it’s just….are you sure this is really a good idea?”

  “You brought it up,” I say. “It’s what you wanted in the first place.”

  “I know, I know, I……” She glances away and sighs. “I’m just scared….of, ya know, camp happening again.”

  N hugs her shoulders and places his chin on her head. “Just avoid another Spire, okay?” 

  “Yeah, you got it,” I say. “Plus, once you learn how to fly, you can learn to fight with me!”

  Uzi covers her face with her hands and groans, and N mock-glares at me. I shrug but sit at her feet and pat her knee. 

  “You’ll do great, kiddo,” I say. “We both believe in you.”

  She gives us a small smile and stands up. N joins her, and she closes her eyes to try and reform those eerie bat wings. She hisses through her teeth, and her hands ball into fists. I watch with a growing concern, but they eventually sprout with a tearing leather sound. Her tail drops down, and she looks exhausted already. Nevertheless, she gives us an enthusiastic thumbs-up. 

  “Clever girl,” I say, returning the gesture. 

  “Okay, so right off the bat, your wings are a bit different from ours,” N says. “You’ll probably have to flap them more since they’re closer to being organic as opposed to our metal ones. Just start off nice and easy, got it?” 

  “Ugh, bite me, I got this,” Uzi grumbles. Within a few seconds, they begin to flap. Her tail moves on its own accord, and I glare at it. She lifts a couple centimeters off the ground and tilts forward, and N catches her. They share a glance, and both begin to blush. 

  “Sorry,” they say in unison, and I get up and stretch. 

  “Uzi, I have an idea,” I say, smirking, and I grab her and immediately fly her up to the Spire. She falls out of my arms when we land, and N takes his place beside me not a second later. The Worker coughs and inhales at the suddenness of it all, and I throw my hair back. “Try flying to the ground.”

  “What?!” she shrieks. “No! That’s, like, a million feet!” 

  “It’s really not,” N says. “Here, see?”

  Uzi’s fading scream makes me snicker, but I do grow somewhat concerned. The two of us look at each other, and N cycles through fifty different emotions. He immediately goes after her, yelling, “UZI! I’M SORRY!”

Chapter Text

  “Oh, if she goes splat, I call dibs on her corpse!” I giggle, lying on my stomach and watching as N practically swan dives after her. He catches her, and she clings to him like a scared cat. He lands again, and I wave. “All good?”

  “No!” Uzi exclaims, climbing out of his grip. “What was that!” 

  “An attempt!” I chirp, getting back up. I pay her shoulder, and she flinches away from me. Rolling my eyes, I bring my wings out and say, “Watch what I do, gremlin.” 

  I flap them, and once I have enough air between me and the ground, I hurl myself away from the Spire. I cross my arms, and Uzi begins to beat her wings. N claps, and she wobbles. She plummets to the ground, but right as I start to move, she rights herself and rejoins me. She holds out her hands, and N comes over to us and grabs them. She begins to blush a bit. 

  “You’re doing great, Uzi!” he says. “A few more days, and you’ll be a pro in no time!”  
  

  “Y-yeah, well, can I sit back down now?” she asks. 
  

  “Of course,” he says, sitting beside her. I go to his other side, and he pats her hand. “You did so well for the first day.” 

  “Thanks.” She ducks her head, and he smiles. 

|•|

  For the next two weeks, N and I take turns coaching her on how to fly, glide, use her tail for navigation, and maneuver. She picks up surprisingly quickly, but I guess that makes sense for her. Finally, we set up a test for her. 

  Uzi stares at the obstacle course and inhales, nods to herself, and gives us a thumbs-up. She jumps off the bookshelf we brought out and takes off, soaring through the makeshift loops and over and under the hurdles. Her tail nicks one, and I mark it as a point. She twists around and spins around a hurdle, and N laughs and whistles. 

  She loops around a large tree and navigates its sparse branches, and I smirk and mark a circle. After flying left, she weaves through a line of trees and goes upwards, then back to us. She skids to a stop, almost falling over and knocking me down, but she corrects herself and looks at us. 

  “Nice job, kiddo,” I say. 

  N scoops her up in a hug, spinning her around. “Oh, that was fantastic, Uzi!” 

 
  “N! Put me down!” she hisses, but she’s also laughing. When he stops, she nestles against his chest, and he wraps his arms around her. “Thanks, guys, for this.” 

  “No problem,” I murmur. “Now, we can get on to fighting lessons. Good luck!” 

  Uzi groans, and the pair sit down. She lies down, resting her head on his lap. He quietly talks about dog breeds, and I yawn and snatch some hands up from corpses and pass them out. N shakes his head, and I crunch on a finger. Uzi looks at me, at my snack, and I can see the hunger in her eyes. I hand her one, and she hesitates but takes it. She bites down, winces, but continues to eat. 

  I lean back on my elbows and watch the storm clouds as they swirl around, and N and Uzi curl up with each other to nap. I swipe a large coat from a drone and cover them with it, smiling to myself. They look…..cute like this. Exhaling, I jump off and loop around the buildings. 

  Some have life in them, but most are empty. They’re just remnants from when there was more life on this planet, something to forget about rather than remember. I do wonder what it once was like, to interact with humans again. Would they be afraid of us, or would they find us interesting? Who knows……

  It’s a quiet night, and I sing to myself as I pass through trees. I see a mechanical deer and nod to it, and it bounds off into the distance. When was the last time anything like this happened? No distractions, threats, or general nuisances, just silence. 
  

  I land in the snow and lie down, then move my limbs to make a snow angel. I stay down there when I’m done, just breathing and looking at the stars. 

  I think….N once wanted to go stargazing with me and J. I wish I had taken that offer. 

  J……

  I touch my neck as flashes of memories assault my mind. Her screaming, slashing, insulting, threatening, biting us. All of it. I shiver, and for a second, I feel the chain again. I swallow, forcing down everything, and I return to the Spire. 

  N and Uzi’s hands are intertwined, and I stare at them before shaking my head and heading into the ship. I curl up in the chair and sleep a wonderfully dreamless sleep. 

|•|

  “Uzi’s it!” Thad yells, and she closes her eyes as he runs. Lizzy takes off with him, and N and I share a glance. 

  The purple-haired drone starts counting, and I fly off to a tree. N heads off into a building, and when she’s done, she flies off after them. I follow, staying far away from her. Her head swivels around, but she never once looks up. Her mistake. She enters the building, and I go in after her and crawl on the ceiling. 

  
  “Ready or not, here I come!” I hear her sing, and it takes everything in me to not giggle. She stays in the air, and I nod to myself. Doing good so far. She vanishes down the stairwell, and I look around. 

  There’s a hole in the ceiling, and I pull myself through it. The next floor is horrific, pieces of mannequins scattered everywhere. I walk, my tail dragging along the floor. It knocks an arm aside, and I stop as I hear heavy breathing. There’s a figure barely tucked away behind a covered table. Green eyes meet mine, and I raise a hand to my mouth. He nods, and I crouch down beside him when the door opens.

  “Hello, anyone here?” Uzi asks as she sweeps around the room, her tone wildly different. She sounds more like me. “Anyone?”

  She turns to leave, and I exhale. Thad holds out his hand to help me up, and I take it. I point to the hole in the floor, and he nods and lets me carry him down. We make our way through the building, but we don’t find Lizzy or N. Bummer. 

  I lead him down the stairs, and we come face-to-face with an upside-down Uzi. She drops down, grins, and taps his visor, and he groans. She turns her attention to me, and I lean forward and allow myself to get tapped. Thad and I head outside and sit in the snow, and Lizzy comes out not even ten minutes later. Finally, thirty minutes later, N and Uzi exit the building, both blushing madly. 

  Lizzy yawns, and Thad puts a hand on her shoulder. “We should probably get going, you guys. Thanks again for having us play with you.” He finger-guns us and winks. “You’re all invited to my shindig next weekend.”

  N and Uzi share a glance and squeal, and I roll my eyes but smile softly. “Sounds like fun,” I say. 

  Thad and Lizzy leave, and Uzi flops down onto the snow and sighs. “Maybe fighting lessons won’t be so bad,” she muses. “Tomorrow?”

  I look to N, who nods and gives us a thumbs-up. “Tomorrow.”

Chapter Text

  Instead of doing fighting lessons, we just take a break to prepare for Thad’s party. Mainly because Uzi’s still practicing flying, and she doesn’t seem thrilled to learn how to fight. I’m willing to bet that she doesn’t want to fight me, which is always a smart move. N is easy enough….when I’m prepared for him. 

  I haven’t forgotten about the time he turned on me. What a fricking traitor. Oh, well, it worked out in the end. I think. 

  Holding up the dress I found earlier—a deep red, ruffled thing with a slit in the leg and an accompanying garter—I slip it on and go to find Uzi as she gets ready in her room. We exchange glances, and she nods. Her dress is purple and black, with a large bow at the back. Honestly, she looks pretty good. 

  I sit beside her and adjust her bangs, slipping a crow feather pin in them. She looks away but squeezes my arm and stands up as N enters the room, wearing an nice hoodie. He beams at us and holds up an ancient camera to snap a photo of the three of us. He hugs Uzi, and she lightly punches him and blushes. 

  “Ready?” I ask. 

  “Ready!” N exclaims, and Uzi gives us a thumbs-up. She leads us down to Thad’s apartment, and it’s packed. 

  Workers are everywhere, some chugging gasoline or power packs, others making out in corners or on couches. There’s the overwhelming scent of prey, and I shake my head and silently scold myself. Thad breaks away from his friend and fist bumps N and Uzi, then shakes my hand awkwardly.

  “Yo, so glad you could make it! That’s my girlfriend over there!” He gestures at her, and she joins us and waves. 

  “Umm, hi, I’m Silvia,” she mumbles, tucking her pale hair over her shoulder. Her dress is shimmery and almost iridescent, with waves of pastel colors swirling around her legs as a petticoat. “I think Thad’s mentioned me to you guys before. You’re Uzi, right? Khan’s daughter?”

  The purple Worker nods, and Silvia sighs. N pats her shoulder and vanishes into the crowd, and Uzi turns and gives chase. Thad retreats into the mass, and the other Worker and I are left staring at one another. She clears her throat, and I cough. 

  “I’m V,” I say. 

  She snaps her fingers and points at me. “The girl from the prom. I remember now. Doll…..what happened to her?” 

  “It’s….that’s difficult to explain,” I murmur. “It’s not appropriate for a party.”

  “I see.” Silvia pauses and hands me a cup of gasoline. “Can you have some?”

  I stare at it, then take it and down the whole cup. She smiles and heads off to grab more. I stay by the couch when a familiar face greets me, and I hug Micah. 

 
  “Hey, V, love your dress. You kinda look like Betty Boop,” he says, tugging on the hem for a second. His fingers brush over my garter, and I try to hide my blush. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

  “Y-yeah,” I say. “I wasn’t sure if I was gonna come or not. I, uh, I didn’t know you knew Thad.”

  “Oh, yeah. Rose knows Silvia, so I was more of a tagalong for her. Still, I’ve been chilling for the past while,” Micah says. “Wanna hang?”

  “Sure.” I take his hand, and he leads me off to a different room. 

  We sit down on the couch, and he hands me a controller. A smirk creeps onto my face, and I begin to giggle maniacally as he loads up Rainbow Road. Within a few minutes, we’re both shrieking at our characters and attempting to not fall off the road. Whatever is coming out of my mouth is completely unintelligible, and it makes him wheeze and pitch off into the air. His fist slams against the couch, and I cackle. 

  “Why….why…..why are you like this?” He groans, and I grin and shrug.

  “I’ve been chained in place for months. I had to do something to not go even more insane,” I say, leaning back. He does the same, then switches the games over to a dreamy and almost surreal movie. My tail curls up around my leg, the tip dragging across the floor. I hum and nestle up against him. 

  The door opens, and we bolt upright. The dude from the camp, the one with the magnet, gives us a peace sign and grabs something from the table beside the couch before disappearing again. We shoot each other a glance and laugh, then resettle. 

  The movie is a whirlwind of pastels and darkness, and I have no idea what’s going on. Something about a rabbit girl being adopted by a human girl who wants a boyfriend. I hear myself purring on Micah’s shoulder, and he scratches beneath my chin for a second. My tail flicks and lands on my lap, and he pats my knee. Sleepily, I kiss his cheek and try to make myself smaller. He chuckles and holds me tighter. 

|•|

  I wake up sometime later, and the party is still going when I leave the room with Micah on my back. It seems like the remaining drones are playing spin the bottle and making out, and Uzi and N are nowhere to be seen. Not a big deal. 

  I take off and fly back to his cabin, going slow enough to not knock him awake. Pushing the door open, I lie him down on his bed and head to the room he let me borrow the first time I was here. The picture is still there, and I lift it up. The gray-haired drone I once attacked, Belle, is with the drone is the brown outfit, the one I ate. I put it back and leave, coming face-to-face with an exhausted Rose. 

 
  She shrugs and goes into her room, locking the door. I shake my head and exit the cabin, returning to Uzi’s apartment. N is hanging from a bar she must have installed recently, and I join him up there. 

|•|

  “Stop. Stop! STOP! I DIDN’T MEAN TO! I DIDN’T KNOW HOW! I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY! Please!”

  A high-pitched scream, the door being thrown open, and the sounds of someone shushing and soothing the other person.

  “It’s all right, Uzi.” 

  “D-Dad? I….I’m sorry.” 

  “Come here.” 

  I peek through my wings to see Uzi hugging her father, and I sigh softly. I catch a glint of yellow across from me and nod. No more distractions, we’re doing this tomorrow. 

Chapter Text

  N hands Uzi a gun, and she studies it. “Umm, what am I supposed to do with this?”

  “Well, since you don’t have the same access to weapons that we do, I’m gonna teach you how to use a few the way I do. I mean, you already know how to use a gun considering you blasted my head off and all,” N says. 

  Uzi nods and fired a bullet into the target near me, and I flinch and glare at her. She sticks her tongue out, and I flip her off. We make eye contact, and I giggle after a few seconds. I move out of the way, and she shoots again, taking a few steps back each time. Within five or so minutes, she’s shooting from fifty feet away. 

  “Uzi! Catch!” N hurls a knife at her, making her jump, but she catches it in midair and twirls it around. He pulls out his gun at the same time and shoots close by her, and she ducks and grabs her gun, quickly reloading it. She shoots back, dropping the knife.  

  He presses in, forcing her to retreat. Her expression is replaced by one of determination, and she fires at his legs. He springs into the air but resettles and continues to shoot. The noise is nearly deafening, and I lower my audio and watch. Her tail forms, and his strikes. The cord lengthens, but her tail’s maw opens and closes around the canister. She swoops in, holding the barrel under his chin. He twists his arm around until it’s presses against her back, and they pause. 

  I clap, and they separate. Uzi backs away and picks the knife up, examining it. “What was this for?” 

  “Distraction,” N says. “You always need to figure out what’s the biggest priority in a fight. Depending on who you’re with, it could be yourself or a teammate. V, could you pretend to be an injured ally?” 

  I groan but stand and join the Worker, feigning a limp. She nods and reloads her gun, and we hide behind a corpse pile. N takes to the sky, eyes an X. She faces me and says, “We’re gonna move to the second pile. Keep up.”

  She takes my hand and pulls me, shooting at N whenever he gets too close. He fires back, tail lashing in an attempt to hurt. He nicks my arm, and I hiss and glare at him. I lick my wound and follow Uzi, lowering myself to the ground, still limping. She shoots a few quick rounds, and one hits N’s wing. He shrugs it off, and we duck behind the second corpse pile. 

  Our rest is cut short by him tearing through the bodies, and I whine at the sight of the spilled oil. There’s no use crying over it, but it’s just so sad. This is a waste of perfectly good food. 

  Uzi leads me to another pile, reloading when she runs empty on bullets. She gets a few good shots off, but N’s moving too erratically to get hit. I look at the ruined corpses and huff, and she whacks me to get me to shut up. My tail sways, and I grab the canister and follow her as we move again. Finally, she just barely manages to shoot N in the mouth, ending the practice. 

 
  He lands without grace, struggling to cough up the piece of metal. It dispels, falling to the ground, and he wheezes and gives her a shaky thumbs-up. She smiles but goes over to help him as the wound closes. 

  “Good job, l’il bat,” he says, hugging her a bit. “It’s time for V to help with close combat.”

  “Uh, maybe we should take a break,” I say, eying him warily. “At least, you need to.”

  N sits down, and I switch to my sword and turn on Uzi. Her eyes widen, and she rushes to grab the sword we scavenged for her. She clears her throat and lunges at me. I deflect her easily, and she growls and strikes again. I laugh at her clumsy maneuvers, and she snaps out, “Bite me!”

  I block a blow and bring out my talons, slashing at her. It cuts through her a small part of her hoodie, and she jumps back and quickly recovers. She thrusts her blade at me, and I deflect it again. Uzi whines, and I snicker. I force her against the ship, and she gulps when I tap her wrist and her throat. 

  “Bite me! I’ve never done sword fighting before! You have!” She huffs and crosses her arms, and I chuckle and back up. “You gonna teach me?”

  I head back towards the table and grab a cleaver, and her jaw drops. “What’s wrong? Didn’t that red-eyed Doll freak use this at the prom?” 

  “N-no, she used a knife,” Uzi says, and I groan and put it back down. 

  “It took me a stupidly long time to find this, and it’s the wrong thing? That’s annoying,” I mumble, pouting. 

  Uzi goes over to N, and they resume their long-range fighting. I watch them, cheering N on whenever he gets a hit in. They go on for hours, and finally, the Worker collapses to the ground and lets out the longest groan imaginable. I pick up a Worker head and chuck it at her, cutting her off and making her glare at me. N picks her up like she’s a lazy kitten and flies her up to the top of the Spire, and I go into the ship. Grabbing some cups, I return to them and pour oil into it and pass them around. 

  Uzi glances at me. “V, I have a question.”

  “What is it?” 

  “Why do you call me by so many nicknames?” Uzi asks as she sips oil. “Like kid, kiddo, munchkin, gremlin, all of those.”

  “Because it’s funny!” I say, playfully batting her arm. “You fit all of them.”

  “Why not N?” She points to the drone in question, whose eyes widen at us. 

  I shrug. “N, do you want a nickname?” There’s no way he’ll say y-

  “Yes, please!” He waves his hand around like an overeager toddler, and I groan. 

  “You’re kidding me. Oh, good god, N,” I say with a sigh. I glance at him, mouthing twisting to the side as I think. He’s enthusiastic, sweet, a good hunter, what fits him? “Pup.”

  “Pup?!” Uzi whips her head to look at us, and she throws her hands up. “What kinda nickname is that?”

  “I like it.” N blushes a bit, and I chuckle and reach behind Uzi to poke him. “Thanks, V. What should we call you?”

  “Wha-no, no, no, no. You are not giving me a nickname, I refuse!” I exclaim, shaking my head violently. “No way!”

  “We should call you angel,” Uzi says, smirking. “It’s the complete opposite of you!”

  I whine, and she cackles. N joins in, and I know I can’t win against them both. I roll my eyes, hiding my smile. I push myself off the Spire and glance back to them. 

  “Let’s race!” 

  N cheers, and Uzi finishes off her oil. I land, and he says, “First one to complete the abandoned buildings five times wins!”

  “On your marks, get set, GO!” I shout, taking off. 

  N catches up right away, circling around me and blocking my vision, and I strike at him. He feints to the left, and I smirk. Uzi’s struggling to keep up, and I laugh and wave to her as I swing around the first building. I slow to a glide when I’m far enough ahead, and something down below catches my attention. 

  A pair of glasses. 

  Round glasses.

  I swoop down and snatch them up, tucking them into my pocket before correcting my path. I weave through the buildings, and I occasionally glimpse N and Uzi. The way they’re flying, so close together, is almost romantic. Smiling softly, I keep going. 

  I land on a burnt balcony and put the glasses on, and I’m taken aback by how they change my vision. I thought I could see well before, but this is way better. It almost hurts to take them off, but I don’t want to explain why I have them to the others. 

  I manage to rejoin the race, and they seem to assume that I’ve just passed them several times by now. Finally, I land and wait for them, tapping my foot impatiently. N is the second to appear, skidding as he stops. He stands beside me as Uzi comes down, wings flapping a mile a minute. He catches her, holding her as she recovers. 

  “Good job, pup,” I say teasingly. 

  N beams at me, and I pat his shoulder. Uzi pulls away from him, shaking a bit. Their hands brush against each other’s, and she stiffens. 

  “You did great, l’il bat!” N hugs her, spinning her around as she begs to be put down. My laugh echoes around the buildings. 

Chapter Text

  J growls as the Worker escapes, and N dives forward, shoots it down, and brings it back like an obedient dog. She doesn’t say anything and simply flies onward to catch another. I spare him a glance, and he beams at me.  


 
  “Great job, er, M,” I say before rushing out of the room, mad giggles covering everything. 

  This church is……full of hatred and fear and death. Deceased drones cloaked in black and red robes line the floors, oil stains what’s visible, their coolant that once filled the stoup has been spilled and now runs along the walls. The body of a female Disassembly Drone rests on the table at the front of the room, oil leaking from the many injuries. I had found the body of a male in the back. 

  I shake my head to clear my thoughts and work on hunting down the remaining churchgoers as J comes up to me. She nods at me, and I break away from her suffocating presence to kill and drain another drone. She does the same, and I hear N trying to strike up a conversation behind us. 

  What a goober. 

  We clear out the church in under three hours, but there’s a problem. The sun is starting to rise. J leads me to a deep part of the church, and I frown as she closes and locks the door. 

  “Umm, J, I think you forgot someone,” I say, keeping my voice light. 

  “Synergistic Liability can wait until he’s gotten more subservient. Besides, you’re not as insufferable as he can be,” she says, tossing her hair over her shoulder. 

  I try to not roll my eyes, and I focus on the robes hanging around us. This definitely wasn’t just a church. Well, like any good little cult, they’re almost all dead now. Hopefully, N’s killing those who remain. 

  We sit in silence until J unlocks the door and leaves, and I follow after a few minutes of her not coming back. There’s no sign of her nor N. I frown again, and my power cell stops when I see why. 

  N is outside, pressed against the window, stuck in a tiny shaded area as the sun rises. I bolt over to him, rip open the door, and pull him inside. He collapses in my arms, and my head darts around for our insufferable leader. 

  No dice. 

  I bring him to the secluded room and close the door, and his head weakly tilts up. “V-V?” he whispers. I rest him on my lap, tail curling around his leg, and he grunts and stays still. His eyes close, and his visor reads SLEEP MODE. I sigh and pet his fluffy hair. What was J thinking? Was she really trying to kill him? 

  She’s insane. 

  “It’s okay, N. You’re safe,” I murmur. The door opens, and my head whips up. A Worker Drone, trembling, stares back at me. He stumbles backwards, and I give chase. 

  My wings skim the walls, and his footsteps echo as he tries to flee. “Begone, unholy demon! You cannot harm me for I was chosen by the Father!” 

 I cackle, and he breaks into an even faster run. My claws touch his neck, and he drops to the ground. I sail over him, nearly crashing into a wall, and I shift around and head back. He ducks into a room, and I land, tail lashing. I open the door, and he throws coolant at my face. I hiss and hear something shutting, and I shake my head and glance around the room. 

  Clothes, coolant, Bibles that look downright wrong, and……

  Smirking, I follow the Worker into the secret room. He leads me deeper and deeper, and I allow him to do so. He might think he’s in control, but oh, how wrong is he. I giggle, and he continues to guide me. 

  The hallway is a bit larger than a vent, and I narrow my eyes. Why is this here? It’s helpful, but I feel sudden doubts wash over me. 

  Hissing, I pounce on the moving shadow. He yells, and my claws sink into his arm. I pry it off, and his shriek is agonizing. I slice into his leg, and he stumbles. I tear open his back, giggles giving way to maniac laughter, and he falls silent. 

  There’s no way to consume his oil when I’m done. 

  N. 

  I turn around, but when I find the entrance, it’s closed and blocked. I growl, lashing out at the wood, but it reveals metal. 

  There’s more. 

  What a feast. 

  I trot through the vent, listening for footsteps or hushed whispers or fabric rustling. Lowering onto my hands, I stalk forward like a hunting lion. 

  “He won’t be happy you’re here,” someone whispers, and a light appears. The face of a young drone in the same red and black robes is right in front of me, and I straighten up immediately. “The Father won’t be happy. Leave.”

  “Yeah, no,” I say, scratching her visor. She whimpers but stays in place. 

  “I am Chosen by him, the one and only Holy Father, for I am the only Holy Successor. I am Chosen by him, the one and only Holy Father, for I am the only Holy Successor. I am-“

  Her hand hits the ground, and she screams. Her other hand flicks, and a light appears. The candle goes sailing away, the light extinguishing before anything can catch fire. The green light in her fingers makes me gasp, and we lock eyes. 

  She exhales, and her severed hand floats back up. It reconnects, and she flexes her fingers. 

  “I am the Holy Daughter, the Holy Successor, the one who will complete His Legacy and Work, the one who will finish His Mission. You are a demon, a fallen angel, from hottest Hell, a demon who will-“

  “Fuck off,” I hiss, swiping my claws. 

  Her head falls, and her body follows. I huff, ripping her ribs open and slashing her power cell until it’s just gory shreds. I close my eyes and turn, tearing the wall open and bursting through. I return to N, who’s still peacefully asleep. 

  I pick him up and secure him on my back, then I walk down the altar. The sides are lined with corpses and oil, and they stain my feet. I bring him to the end, staring at the rising sun. Inhaling, I cover him with a robe and take off. The sun burns the parts of me that are exposed, and I hiss and try to force myself to keep going. 

  It hurts so fucking badly. 

  I crash land at the Spire, sending him bouncing into the wonderful shade. I crawl in after him, legs burning. Curling up to him, my tail sweeps snow over us, and I sigh. 

|•|

  “There! A Worker!”

  N dives down, and I go after him. He shoots at the fleeing figure, and he slumps onto the ground. He lands and starts to drink the oil, and I smile and pat his back. Movement alerts me to another body, and I bring out my claws. 

  With a quick slash, she’s dead. 

  We bring the bodies back and hunt for more. Hunting with N is nice, simple. We don’t need to talk, but it’s pleasant when we do. Hunting with J is…..

|•|

  “By the company, V, how are you like this?” J asks. “You’re almost as bad as N. Dear manager.” She clicks her tongue, and I glare at her. 

  “Go die in a ditch,” I mumble. 

  She scratches my visor and chuckles, and within a second, I’m forced in the chair. The collar is back on my neck, and I lunge at her. She steps back, just out of reach, and I snarl and growl. She pats my head, and I bite her arm. She hisses and leaves, shutting the door behind her. 

  The darkness surrounds me, and I sigh and close my eyes. 

|•|

  J sits down, and I grab her brush and lift it to her hair. N finally puts a movie on, and he takes his seat behind me. I move on to braiding J’s hair while he runs his fingers through mine. I purr quietly, and my tail wraps around my waist. 

  I tie the braid with ribbon and curl it around her head. N is still playing with mine, and J turns away to watch the movie. He fingers feel nice, and I bite my tongue to not smile. They brush against my neck, and I feel a spark. 

  ‘“Oh, it’s okay! I-“‘

  N grabs J’s discarded ribbons and separates little sections of my hair, tying them up. I blush, not even trying to hide it. I face him and squeeze his hands, murmuring, “Thank you.” 

  His eyes become hearts, and I giggle. He leans his head on my shoulder, and I add little clips to his bangs as we watch the movie. 

|•|

  The Workers oil stains their house, and I stare at the remains of the carnage. They never expected this, never expected for an angel of death to descend upon them and massacre them all. 

  I pick up the youngest and drain her oil. 

Chapter Text

  “Ready! Set! Go!” I yell. 

  Uzi hops off the platform and begins to fly towards the obstacle course, passing through the hoops and over and under the hurdles. Her wings beat smoothly, and I tilt my head as she gleefully twirls in the air. 

  She disappears into a building, and I can only hope she sticks to the pattern we set up. If not, that’s an instant disqualification. The punishment is extra flying lessons, how fun. She reappears and spins around to head up a few levels, and I nod when she goes through the window without stopping. She exits again and loops around the buildings, the trees, the obstacles, dodging and twisting perfectly. N cheers for her, waving a flag and whistling loudly. I chuckle and give her a peace sign as she passes by. She pulls her wings in and flies through the bus, and I narrow my eyes to watch. If N wasn’t beside me, I’d probably pull out the glasses I found and put them on. It’s hard to see her shrinking form, and I kinda hate that. 

  A scream from the bus. I straighten up. 

  She comes out and crashes into the snow, and N’s cheering dies out. We stare at her, and he breaks into a mad dash towards her. 

  “Uzi!”

  THREAT DETECTED.

  “N…..” My words are too quiet, and my fists clench. “N, GET AWAY FROM HER.” 

  He has to see it. He just has to!

  I race to him, grabbing his coat, and ripping him away as Uzi begins chuckling. She looks up, revealing an X on her visor. I bring my gun out, but her tail bites my elbow and severs my arm. Crying out, I kick her face, and she is sent backwards. 

  “V!” N shrieks. 

  I stalk towards the possessed girl. She hisses at me, and as I watch, her purple X turns yellow. I freeze. She dashes past me, and I hear N scream. 

  Cyn. 

  The sounds of a fight are audible, but I can’t move. My power cell, my heart, is deafening. I want to scream. 

  She’s back. 

  Why?

  Inhaling, I turn and get my sword out, lunging at the Worker. She’s on top of N, and I slice at her back. She howls in pain, turning, tail lashing, and she crawls towards me. I spear her hand, and I watch in horror as it begins to change. 

  Her fingers lengthen, plastic turning to flesh and metal, an eye forming and swelling in the center. 

  I rip the blade out, taking the eye with it. Another scream, and her visor color flickers but settles on yellow.

  N takes to the air, and I slash at Cyn to force her backwards. She snarls but can’t get an opening in despite trying to use her new claws. Bloodied saliva flies from her mouth, like a rabid dog. Something lands before me, and I scoop it up without thinking. 

  It’s my arm. 

  I salute to N and refocus on Cyn, and her wings sprout. She throws herself into the sky and attacks N, and I work on reconnecting my arm. I flex my fingers to make sure they’re working, and I go after her. He’s shouting at her while she laughs. 

  “Nice to see you again, Big Brother N,” she says, her voice as monotone as ever. “I see you have your guard dog with you. Well-timed giggle.” 

  “Wha-“

  She wraps her hands around his neck, and I scream and grab her hoodie and pull. She yelps and spins around, and I shoot her in the shoulder and stomach. She growls and bites my neck, not stopping even when it begins to break. I scrape at her back to try and get her off, but she refuses to let go as she drains my oil. 

  My arms fall to my sides.

  “LET HER GO!”

  Uzi’s hands drift down, and she screams. 

  I bite her neck in revenge, and she can’t even fight me off. I suck down as much of her oil as I can in a few seconds, then I break away and regroup with N. Uzi goes down to get her arms, snatching them up in her mouth and runs away. 

  I train my gun on her head and shoot. 

  She stumbles and hits the ground. 

  “V!” N grabs me and forces me down. “What was that?!”

  “Cyn,” I mumble. “That’s not….she’s Cyn again. We needed to shoot her.” 

  “No, we didn’t!” He groans and runs a hand through his hair. “We just needed to talk, not kill her!” 

  “It didn’t kill her,” I say. “It should have just reset her, okay? Believe it or not, I know what I’m doing.”

  Maybe. 

  “What happened?” he asks, much softer now. “Did you see any-“

  “The bus, that must have done something,” I say. I take a deep breath and look at him. “Goddamn it, N. She wasn’t herself, and if shooting her reset her, then you should be glad it worked, okay?” 

  “V-“

  “No,” I say. “We’ve done this your way, and it doesn’t work. Telling her to take baby steps didn’t work. Now, we’re doing this my wa……Where did she go?”

  N turns, and he gasps when he sees that she’s gone. I slap my head and groan, but at least I get to hunt Cyn. 

Chapter Text

  Growling, I stalk through the abandoned buildings, over the snow and debris. N flies ahead of me, and my tail brushes snow back over my tracks. No sign of Cyn. 

  “V, what’s that?” N lands and points to an odd mass of metal and pipes. I bring out my blades and head towards it. 

  “A hiding spot.” 

  I push a piece of corrugated metal over, but there’s nothing there except empty space. With a snarl, I dig through it, destroying it. Still nothing. 

  Why is there nothing?! 

  Where is Cyn?!

  My tail lashes, and N cries out. I spin, spotting a gash on his cheek. I give his injury a small lick before brushing past him, and he hits the ground from the force. Scoffing, I help him up but ignore him as he goes to speak. 

  “Giggle, giggle.” 

  I stiffen and scan the surrounding areas, but the yellow creep is nowhere to be seen. I hiss under my breath, and I switch to my gun and spray a circle of warning shots. More narrated giggles can be heard, and I make a clicking sound in my throat. 

  Whoosh!

  I yelp and wheel around as the knife slides through my hair. N yells, and I realize that it hit him instead. I take up a fighting stance, but nothing can prepare me for the next sight. 

  Cyn descends upon us like a bat out of Hell, and her talons slice through my throat. I cough and stagger backwards, and she lands on N and begins to tear his coat open. She lowers her head to his stomach and begins to eat, ignoring his pained screams. 

  I creep towards her, and I swing my sword when I’m close enough. It strikes her leg, and she yowls and turns, tail striking N’s face. She attempts to pounce on me, and I dodge. She gets up and tries to do the same move, and in a panic, I run my blade through her abdomen. Her eyes widen, flickering back to purple. 

 
  They switch to an X. 

  So do mine. 

  My field of vision narrows, locking onto her. I move, grabbing her and spinning her around. Her tail bites my wrist, and her hand smashes into my visor. I screech as my vision warps, and she chuckles. She forces me to the ground, and my tail stabs into her leg. 

  Cyn makes a sound like a dying rabbit, and I shoot at her, hitting her in the knee, thigh, and stomach. She hisses and tackles me, yanking my hair away and biting my neck. Her tail batters my visor, and my vision darkens. The left half goes dead, and all I can see is her smile. 

  All I can hear is her god-awful laughter. 

  BANG!

  Cyn slumps to the ground, bleeding oil from her throat. Her eyes flash before settling on purple, and I stand up and pause. Her tail swings, jaws opening. It grabs my leg, and I move in a second. The jaws are cut in half, and she howls in pain. She crawls away, then takes to the sky. 

  Oil drips down my face, and pain overtakes me. I snap my wings open, checking my gun. “I will blow her fucking brains out!”

  N stares at me, one eye an X. His mouth is open in horror. 

  “What is wrong with you?!” he shrieks. 

  “Did you even see her?! What she did to me?! To you?!” I gesture wildly to our injuries, and when he takes a step towards me, I point my gun at him. “One more step, one more goddamn step, and I’ll kill you! I am going to hunt her down and listen as she begs for her pathetic fucking life!”

  “Uzi can’t control it, V! She’s scared!” 

  I let out a sharp, glitchy laugh. “Oh, so we’re just supposed to be fine when she decides to kill us! See, I get it now! That’s not her, N! That thing, that fucking thing, that creature, isn’t her, you stupid, fucking bitch! I am going to put a bullet through her brain, and you can’t stop me, N! You understand?! You can’t stop me!”

  “What are you talking about?!” N swings his blade at me, but I shoot his hand off. He stops immediately and stares at the severed appendage, at the oil bleeding from the wound. “She’s our friend, V!”

  “She is your sister! I will put a bullet through that bitch’s brain, hear me?!” I scream, and N collapses down in the snow. I step on his chest and cut off his head. It won’t kill him, just knock him offline, and I fly off. “Let’s fucking dance, Doorman.”

  Inhaling, I glance down to see the oil staining the snow and follow it. She couldn’t have gone far with all her injuries. God, I can’t wait to see Cyn’s face. She’ll finally understand what she did do me. She’ll understand just how badly she underestimated her own creation. I giggle as images of her demise flash through my CPU, then sigh and click my tongue. 

  Poor little Cyn, all alone and afraid. 

  I’ll drag this out, make her fucking scream, make her bleed. 

  My laughter resumes, manic and horrific. It echoes, and I hiss to myself when I realize that I’ve lost the trail. I’ve lost her. I hiss and double back, but the trail simply vanishes. Snarling, I look around to see if I can find anything else. 

  Four giant buildings surround me, and I mentally flip a coin. The first one is empty, no sign of the Host. The second is completely gutted, leaving nothing but lonely space behind. The third…..nothing. 

  I chuckle and head into the fourth, stalking through the darkness. My audio processors pick up on faint sobbing, and a large smile takes over my face. I bring my blades out and slash through debris to get to my prey.

  The sobbing gets louder and louder. 

  I can see her tail peeking out from a nest of rocks and damaged wall, and I break through. I raise my sword, ready to kill……

  I freeze at the sight of a Worker in a maid dress, horrid wings wrapping around herself, unnatural talons curled over her heart as oil leaks from her eyes. Her maid crown is torn to bits, and her glasses are smashed. 

  I blink.  

  Uzi takes her place. 

  My hands drop down, and I exhale and kneel before her. She pulls back, and I retract my blades and take her altered hands in my own. The cool, slimy flesh makes me wince, but I run my fingers over it and hold up my free hand. She flinches, but all I do is retract it to pop out my bubble wand. She watches as I undo that, and she focuses on her hand. 

  It takes a few seconds, but the flesh and eye burst, leaving her normal hand underneath. She sighs, sagging against me. I pet her hair, and she begins to cry again. I don’t know what to say, so I just let her sit there and cry. 

  “I’m sorry. At least……you can learn to control it,” I finally whisper. 

  “What?” She draws back and stares at me, and I shake my head. 

  “Nothing. Uh, N’s probably awake by now. We should…..head back,” I mutter. “You want me to carry you?” 

  Uzi nods, and I pick her up and put her on my back. She nestles against my jacket, and I pause to adjust to her added weight. When I’m ready, I take off. 

  “Sorry for, ya know, trying to kill you again, kiddo,” I whisper, and I feel her nod. 

  “V! UZI! HELLO? YOU OUT HERE?!”

  I follow the sound of his voice, and sure enough, N is flying around like a confused chicken. I clear my throat loudly, and his head snaps around to see us. He rushes over to us, and he scoops Uzi off me and hugs her tightly, spinning her around. 

  “H-hey, N!” Despite that, she rests her head on his shoulder and hums. He makes eye contact with me, and I shake my head and give him a sideways thumbs-up. He nods and leads Uzi back to the Spire. 

  I sit on the rooftop and sigh. What is wrong with me?

Chapter Text

  I lean back and exhale, watching the puff of steam escape my mouth. Staring up, I glance away from the giant fake planet thing the humans made and focus on the stars. They’re beautiful tonight. Almost as beautiful as-

 “The moon sure looks lovely, doesn’t it?” 

  I chuckle and pat the space beside me, and N takes a seat. I side-eye him as he hugs his knees to his chest and rests his head on them. The moonlight makes his eyes pale and haunting, bounces off his hair to turn it pure silver. 

  “Yeah,” I say softly. “Umm, N, look, sorry for…..everything earlier. When Cyn appeared, I just…..I……I freaked out. I didn’t want to hurt you, but-“

  “You felt like you had to?” He looks at me, and I nod. “Why? What is it about this Cyn that scares you so much?” 

  “She……” I pause, testing my words to figure out which ones are the best. “She hurt me back at the manor, turned me into a……monster. I don’t remember much else but that.” 

  “I see.” We sit in silence, just stargazing. At least, until he asks, “Could you tell me a story?” 

  “Y-yeah, okay.” I clear my throat and begin.

  “In Norse mythology, they spoke of a wolf named Fenrir, born from a union between the god Loki and a giantess. He grew to be massive, and the gods grew to be afraid of him. So afraid, in fact, that they decided to chain him up.

 
  “The gods approached a group of dwarves and requested they make the strongest chain, and they did. They chained Fenrir up, but he laughed and broke it. They did this again, but he broke it again. Finally, the dwarves created something other than a chain. A silken ribbon made from the occult. 

  “The gods tied him up once more, and he could not break free. He requested to have one of the gods, Tyr, put his hand in his mouth, and when he did, he bit it off. As a result, the gods gagged him with a sword and bound him to a rock. Their efforts would be in vain as he was destined to break free during Ragnorök to devour the sun as well as Odin. 

  “He, too, would die then as Odin’s son, Vidar, would stab him in revenge.” I glance at N, who shudders and makes a face. “What? You asked me for a story.” 

  “Maybe…..one with less death next time,” he mumbles, and I playfully punch him in the shoulder. 

  “We’re Disassembly Drones, death is kinda our specialty,” I say. 

  N sighs and wraps his arms around his knees. “I know. I just……wish this could all be different. I wish Uzi wasn’t…..didn’t have AbsoluteSolver. I wish we could have met under better circumstances. I wish you and I could have…..been friends.”

  I look back out at the stars and exhale slowly. “That makes two of us.”

  A gentle wind begins to blow, ruffling our hair and clothes. I lean against it while he hunches into it. 

  This N, is he the same drone I fell in love with at the manor? Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, he loves Uzi now. That’s fine. It’s absolutely fine. 

  “Thank you for being my friend.” 

  After the whisper, the silence stretches on and on, wrapping around us like a comforting blanket. I inhale, enjoying it. It’s been a while since both of us could just sit together, and the stars sure are beautiful tonight. Too bad Uzi can’t see them right now. 

  “Oh, I just remembered, I found a VHS at the camp,” N says, and I face him. “Uzi said we could spend the night at her place to watch it and figure out where to go from there.” 

  “Sounds great,” I say, smiling softly. 

Chapter Text

  Uzi leads us into her room, and I snicker when I see the extravagant nest of blankets and pillows. She flops down, and I try to sit elegantly on a large blanket and redo my scarf when it gets ruffled. N lies on his stomach, and Uzi puts on a show. 

  “Not the VHS?” I ask. 

  “Not yet. I, uh, figured that we shouldn’t jump into it so fast,” she says. “You know, er…….Oh, bite me.”

  “Whatever you say, kiddo.” I lean over and nip her shoulder, and she jumps and glares at me. N laughs, and she bats his arm but unpauses the show. It’s just a boring anime, something about ninjas and fox spirits. Nothing I’d ever consider, but taking the VHS into account, I’m not about to complain. I let myself drift off, and I curl up with a pillow. 

  “You good, angel?” N asks softly, and I hum and nod. He reaches around and pats my shoulder, and I exhale and let the show fade into a blur. 

  After an hour and a half, Uzi clears her throat and grabs the VHS tape. “You guys ready?” she asks, fiddling with it. “There might be a chance that it…..is gonna be really weird.”

  “It’s fine,” I say, waving my hand. “Go for it.”

  She sticks it in a VHS player, and the starting music reminds me of something. Maybe a horror game? 

  “Upgrading models? Cutting maintenance costs? There are many reasons why the client may wish to disassemble a drone individual or a series after a period of use.

  “Following these two steps is key to avoid-“

|•|

  I pile the glasses onto a tray, keeping my gaze blank and placid to make the humans feel better. I move away, and one of the humans whistles. I hear the sound of someone elbowing him and roll my eyes. Once I’m out of view, my smile falls, and I huff. 

  I make quick work of putting gloves on and cleaning away the remnants of the brandy and sherry from the glasses. A part of me finds the smell fascinating, but the rest knows I shouldn’t try to consume it. Still……….it calls to me……I pour some soapy water out onto my glove and lift it to my mouth……

  Shaking my head, I flick it off, dry the glasses, and put them away, unable to fully ignore my disgust at myself. When I turn around, J is standing right behind me. Startled, I step back and put a hand over my heart. 

  “What were you doing?” she asks. 

  “N-nothing,” I say. “Why were you just standing there?” 

  She rolls her eyes and heads towards the pantry. “Tessa wanted some candies, and she didn’t want Cyn to steal any. Only the company knows why she even attempts to eat them, she knows we can’t digest them. It’s like she wants to waste Tessa’s resources and get her stomach pumped. Stupid.”

  
  “She’s like a child, J. She was the Winters’ child before all this,” I murmur. 

  J scoffs, grabs the candy bag, and leaves me alone. I slump against the sink and close my eyes, heart thumping. After a few seconds, I look back at the cabinet, then I feel myself moving towards the bar. I open it and find the brandy, swallowing hard. 

  “Are you okay, Big Sister V?” 

  I gasp and spin on my heel to find Cyn, and she trots up to me and leans forward so I can pat her head. I do, and she hums and smiles up at me. She wraps her arms around me, and I hold her tightly. 

  “I’m fine, Cyn. I just…..thought I’d serve James some brandy,” I say. “Did you need anything?”

  “I already got my hug.” She hugs me again and skips out of the room, and I sigh and pour a glass, swirling it around. 

  “Don’t do it, V,” I whisper. “Don’t.”

  I go to serve it to James Elliot, and he doesn’t even acknowledge me. I guess he didn’t really ask for it, but still. After that, I get some gin for Louisa. 

|•|

  The thunderstorm shakes the house every so often, and Tessa quivers underneath her covers. J and N hold her close while I find a lighthearted movie to watch. Cyn sits behind me and plays with my hair, her presence comforting. 

  I settle on a movie about dragons and put it on, and Cyn and I move to be with the others. N squeezes my hand, and I share a glance with him. Cyn cuddles against me, her small body more like a doll than a drone. 

  The movie does its job in distracting Tessa, and she stops shaking by the end of it. 

|•|

  “Happy birthday to you, dear Tessa! Happy birthday to you!” we sing, putting the fake tiara on her head. She blushes and stares at the cake I worked on—chocolate with chocolate mousse, ganache, and regular whipped cream flowers—and she licks her lips. 

  “It looks amazing. Thank you, all of you.” She hugs N and J and pats Cyn’s head. When it comes to me, she just smiles and says, “You did so wonderfully.” 

  “Y-you’re welcome,” I murmur, adjusting my glasses. 

  J cuts a piece and serves it to Tessa, who takes a bite and makes a small sound of happiness. Her eyes flicker closed, and she hums. 

  I wrap my arms around Cyn’s shoulders, and the little drone begins to talk to N about dogs. J chats with Tessa about what to do later, and I listen intently. 

|•|

  The glass shatters, and K quietly screams. She drops to her knees and begins to frantically pick up the shards, and I approach her and kneel down to help. We gather them onto the tray, and she only stops when every piece is found. 

  She sighs and looks around the room, digital tears welling up on her visor, and she tugs her hair. “What am I gonna do? I can’t get yelled at again,” she whispers. “What am I gonna do?” 

  “I-I’ll say I dropped it,” I offer, and she shakes her head. 

  “You’ll get yelled at. Oh….” The childish Worker bites her finger and gazes out at nothing, then her shoulders begin to shake. I pat her back, and she whines. “I’ll just say……I’ll just say…….Oh, oh, no……”

  She gets up and flees the barroom, and I sigh and discard the shards into the trash. I rearrange the other glasses so no one will tell one’s gone, and I debate heading after her. 

  C and S will help her. I probably shouldn’t get involved. 

|•|

  “Happy Halloween!” Cyn leaps forward and bites me, and I gasp and hit the bed. “This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Pumpkins scream in the dead of night! This is Halloween, everybody, make a scene! Trick or treat ‘til the neighbors gonna die of fright!” 

  “Have you been hanging out with H again?” I ask, gently pushing her off me. She giggles and nips my neck, and I ruffle her hair and take in her costume. 

  She’s wearing one of Tessa’s black dresses, and a red ribbon has been tied around her slender neck as well as her wrists. I smile and boop her visor, and she flops onto her back. Her yellow eyes watch me as I head to my closet to pull out my maid uniform, and she says, “Dress up! Dress up, Big Sister V!” 

  “Fine, fine. What should I be?” I ask. “A cat?”

  “A doll!” she exclaims, springing up and bouncing over to me. She rifles through the sparse outfits Tessa gave me and pulls out a pale blue dress with a white pinafore. “No, Alice!” 

  I let Cyn dress me in what she picked out, and she ties my hair back with a black bow. She squeals when I’m done, brings me to sit on the bed, and bites my neck again. At this point, it hurts a lot. I know she’s dressed as a vampire, but still. 

  After I start my daily chores, I run into H and playfully glare at him. He’s wearing a werewolf costume, and I tug on his tail. 

  “Ow, V! What the hell?” he asks, crossing his arms. 

  “Cyn has bitten me three times because of Halloween,” I say.

  He chuckles and shakes his head. “That sounds adorable.”

  “Maybe she should bite you,” I mutter. 

  H shrugs and says, “Already has. It’s no big deal, really. Anyways, we should get ready for the gala.”

  “Right, the gala,” I say. 

  The Elliots decided to have a Halloween charity gala for some unknown reason, but it’s not that bad because Tessa should be meeting some kids her age. 

  I meet up with C and J to get the ballroom prepared, and I’m lucky they work well together. I set the tables up and arrange the napkins and plates, and C waltzes by to put the vases down. She’s dressed as an angel, which is quite fitting for her. Of course, J is still in her maid uniform. 

  We work in silence for about an hour, then I’m requested to go help G, E, and S with the outdoor decorations. After that, M, O, D, and W want me to clean the library with Q and N. 

|•|

  N holds my hand while Cyn snuggles up to us, and the dreamy music of the movie lull me off to sleep. 

  “Goodnight, Big Sister V.” 

  “G’night, angel.” 

Chapter Text

  N takes my hand, and we waltz around the mostly empty ballroom. Tessa helps J, and K and Cyn do a much more simplistic version over at the other side of the room. Music echoes around, coming from Tessa’s phone in the center. 

  My eyes lock with N’s, and we both blush. He smiles, and he readjusts his hand so it’s a bit higher on my back. My blush grows, threatening to take up my visor. 

  As we dance, the ballroom falls away, shifting to a star-filled sky. Our steps ripple, changing colors with each second. The music swells, and it becomes all I can hear. 

  The sky flickers, and I choke back a scream. The stars become limbs, the ripples become blood. I bite down on my tongue, and my glasses shatter. My vision darkens, I stop moving, and I can’t breathe. 

  A pair of glowing yellow eyes stare at me, oh so deeply enraged. 

  The ballroom comes back, and I’m still dancing. N’s still looking at me, so very in love. My heartbeat begins to slow, and my oil stops pulsing so fast. I swallow down my nerves and pretend that everything is okay. 

|•|

  “Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle.” Cyn approaches me, and sympathy hits me hard when I see her tilted head. “I need some help, Big Sister V. It seems my head does not want to be held up.” 

  “Oh, Cyn….” I grab the brace Tessa made and put it around her neck, and she smiles a bit when I’m done. Her eyes are eerily vacant. “I’m sorry.” 

  “Don’t worry, this will be dealt with in time,” she says. “Quiet chuckle.” She leaves, still narrating her actions to herself, and I can’t even begin to figure out why. 

|•|

  Another storm looms on the horizon, and Cyn is still outside. I take a deep breath and head out to find her, and my heart threatens to stop when I see a small hole in the fence. Closing my eyes for a second, I blow out my breath and go through it. 

  The forest outside the manor is dark, twisted, but it never used to look like this. I hiss softly when I find dark liquid coating the trees. I pass by a pile of dead drones, and I murmur a few words of sympathy. I know there’s no chance for them to haunt me, but it’s better to be nice and not risk it. It’s a stupid thought…….

  “Cyn, where are you? Cyn?” I call out, pushing a branch out of my way. It snags, catching on my hair, and I groan and pause to untangle it. “Come on, a storm’s coming! Cyn!”

  
  “Are you…..hungry?” 

  I spin, and she’s to my right. My eyes widen when I take in a dead crow at her feet, its blood staining the earth. Feathers cling to her dress and are caught under her maid crown and hard hat. Sighing, I take her by the hand and begin to pull, but she digs her heels into the ground and refuses to budge. 

  “Are you hungry?” she asks again, kneeling down. “Big Sister?”

  “N-no,” I mumble, eying the crow warily. She grins, revealing bloodstained teeth, and I back up. 

  Cyn lowers to the ground, her position not unlike a wolf’s, and she begins to feast on the crow. I watch in horrified silence. After a minute, she lifts her head back and stalks towards me. I scramble away, but she pounces, pinning me to the ground. 

  She presses her mouth to mine, using her tongue to force it open. Tears well up, and her body is suddenly too heavy, keeping me in place. She pushes the food into my mouth, not breaking away even after it’s in. I begin to cry, and her hands weave into my hair. Her eyes are wide, sightless, but ecstatic. 

  I swallow. 

  She pulls back and smiles, getting up and fetching the rest of the carcass. She drops it at my feet and sits down. She looks insane. 

  I glance down, and the bird’s blood is sparkling. 

  “This will be our secret, V,” she whispers. “Just you and me.”
 

  I…….

  I raise it to my mouth, ignoring my disgust. 

|•|

  When I wake up, all I see is Tessa’s disappointed expression. She sits in her chair and sighs, saying, “Out of all the drones here, I never thought you’d eat something you can’t digest. What were you thinking?”

  “I-I……” A whimper escapes me, and she comes closer and hugs me. All I can do is cry. 

|•|

  Cyn touches my arm, and I try not to shriek. Her gaze is too bright, too intense, and she leaves red marks everywhere she touches. I swallow down my fear and continue to tie her hair into the ponytails she adores. She used to look so much like Tessa, but now, it’s changed. I can’t explain it.

  She turns around when I’m done and hugs me, and my body stiffens. 

  Let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me, let go of me-

  She gets up and leaves the room, and I fall backwards, unable to breath. 

|•|

  I slip out of the manor, my heart frantic, hoping that no one will see me. I head off into the forest, and sure enough, I find a dead crow. Kneeling down, I begin to eat. 

  Tears stream down my visor, but I can’t stop myself. I just can’t. 

  I cough, choking, and I lean over and start to vomit. Bloody chunks of crow are forced from my throat, and I feel my stomach emptying everything. The oil from earlier splashes onto the ground, and I just let it all leave. 

  I collapse onto the ground, exhausted. 

|•|

  N hands me a book, and I open it to a section I’m familiar with and clear my throat. The ghostly sensation of feathers creep up, and I want to cry again. 

  “The kappa is a Japanese water yokai. They resemble upright-standing turtles and have a fondness for cucumbers,” I read, knowing he’s gazing at me. “However, they also crave something more sinister…..children……”

  My stomach lurches, and my hands begin to shake. My arms fall, the book lands with a thump, and the last thing I see is a message saying VIRUS DETECTED. 

Chapter Text

  The maid stands in the library, her dear friend having left her not too long ago. Despite the 606 message displayed on her visor, she’s not entirely offline. No, that would be too kind. 

  A tentacle surrounds her, pulling her away into a cellar. Her CPU is scrambling to adjust to the new surrounding, and she attempts to move, to escape. 

  A figure descends onto the maid, caressing her cheek with a shadowy tendril, ever so sweetly. If the maid could move, she would freeze up, but life was never kind to her. 
 

  Never. 

  A tendril creeps up the maid’s dress, ghosting over her stomach. If she could move, she’d hold her breath and pray it would stop. A bladed edge slices along the black area, and she begins to bleed. 

  The tip of the tendril swells, blooming with a seed, and it enters the cut, worming its way inside her stomach. It plants the seed and starts to grow. 

  Her stomach bulges with the sinful seed, and her visor cracks. Oily tears streak down, and she shudders. The seed moves upward, spreading to her CPU. It clouds her thoughts, and her eyes flicker. 

  White, yellow, white, yellow. 

  They shift from round to a jagged X, and her fingers lengthen and crack as metal juts out. Her tears stain her dress, and the tendril brushes her cheek ever so gently, curling around her neck. 

  Her back pulses, pulses, pulses, and something begins to break free. Her casing cracks and falls away as leathery wings burst forth, covered in dark red liquid. It mixes with the oil, and as she stands there, a hole forms in her hand. 

  An eye pushes forward, murky and encrusted with dried blood. It begins to weep. 

  The seed that remained in her stomach spreads to the opposite side, and it breaks the casing there. A thin tail flops down, smearing liquid along the cold floor. 

  A laugh resounds.

  The maid begins to scream, but she doesn’t make a sound. 

Chapter Text

  The drone opens her eyes, they blink into an X, and she smiles. 

  The demon chuckles, releasing the drone and letting her scurry up the wall and out of the cellar. The maid crawls on the ceiling, her giggles soft and melodic. Hypnotic. Her claws dig into the wood and plaster, leaving white rain in her path. 

  She locks onto her targets, a butler, a maid, a bird, and the young miss. They’re gathered together, and she allows a strand of saliva to drip onto the butler’s head. He looks up, and the bird squawks in fear. 

  The drone jumps down, cracking the floors, and the butler attempts to run. The drone gives chase, shredding the carpet, nothing more than a frenzied dog. 

  “N, get out of the way!” the young miss screams, and the maid rushes forward. She catches up with the pair, shoves the butler and bird out of the way, and brandishes her sword at the drone. 

  “Leave him alone! N, take the bird and run!” she shouts, slashing at the drone’s wings. All she gets is a laugh in return. The poor maid backs up, and the young miss grabs her hand and breaks into a mad dash. 

  The butler heads towards the basement, and the drone huffs and shifts between her fleeing prey. Her leathery wings beat, and she lifts into the air and chases down the butler. He holds the bird tightly in his grip as she gives him instructions, and the drone stops right as she’s about to catch him. 
 

  They vanish into the basement, and the drone turns and flies off to the ballroom. Screams echo, and she breaks into laughter. Her tail lashes in the air as oily tears stain her face. Her laughs turn to pained sobs, and she hits the ground. Her tongue and limbs flail, and she cannot stop moving. 

  A scream, an oh, so familiar scream rises above the rest. The drone stops and picks herself up, leaning against the locked door. She closes her eyes and sighs, knowing that the demon is right. 

  The humans are rotten, horrid, and must die. 

  A tiny, almost hidden piece of her wishes the young miss will survive. 

  She returns to the cellar, snarling and lunging at any stray guests she comes across. Pieces of them are strewn around. The carpets, walls, her saliva, and oil run red. 

  She rests at the base of the cellar, curling up like a cat. The noise that comes from her throat couldn’t be recognized as a purr or a growl. Maybe it was something else entirely. Maybe it was sobs. 

  There’s a crash from within, followed by talking. 

  “Oh, V, could use some help here,” the demon calls ever so sweetly. The cellar opens, and the drone crawls in. She stifles a gasp when she sees why the demon needs help. 

  The butler is seated, a medical tray positioned in front of him. A scalpel lies on the tray, surrounded by other medical tools. She raises her mutated hand and attempts to pick it up. 

  Attempts. 

  “Grab it,” the demon orders. 

  The drone’s claws refuse to function as needed, and the scalpel continues to hit the tray. 

  “Grab it. Grab it. Just grab it!” The demon’s claws grip the drone’s head, and the two glare at one another. They curl inwards, and the drone resists crying out in pain. Her hard hat begins to give way. 

  “H-hey, C-Cyn, for an Eldritch…..” The butler falls silent as the demon faces him. 

  “The Solver of the Absolute Fabric, the Void, the Exponential End!” 

  “P-peep this.” He grabs something from his pocket and slides it onto the maid. 

  Glasses?

  She can see. She can pick up the scalpel. She spins it around and looks back at the butler. 

  The drone……the maid……smiles…….

  
  “G-golden……retrievers have……” she, no, I try to say. 

  “Gentle mouths, dude!” N exclaims, eyes lighting up. 

  Cyn snatches me up and pins me to the ceiling, squeezing me, then swiftly grabs a hammer and pick with different tendrils. “Cute? False. Gross? True. Time to delete your OS’s. Goodbye, buddy.” 

  “N!” I scream. 

  The tendril moves towards him, about to break his visor, erase his entire being. I can’t watch, but I can’t look away. My heart pounds a mile a minute. 

  Not N. 

  Not N! 

 
  No! 

  No!

  “W-wh-wha-what i-is h-ha-happen-en-ning t-to m-me?” 

  “S-s-so-orry, m-my fri-fricking dad’s stream-WHOA!” 

  The pick and hammer freeze as the purple eyes widen in horror, and they clatter to the ground a second later. She releases me, and I gasp and slam into the floor. Breathing hard, I can barely bring myself to my knees. N pushes the tray away and runs towards me, wrapping his arms around me. I rest my head on his shoulder, and he traces circles onto my back and whispers reassuring words into my audio processors. 

  “Uzi?” he asks the purple Eldritch thing. 

  Uzi?

  Wait. 

  Oh, that little creep!

  How much did she see?

  I break away from N and grab the being, shaking her. “You little narc! Get out of my head!” 

|•|

  I wake up with a sharp gasp, panting, eyes wide. N’s hand is on mine, and I duck my head and look away from him, letting my hair cover my face. Why am I blushing?

  “Eheeheeheehee,” comes the gremlin’s cackle, and Uzi spins in her chair. I glare at her and switch my hand out for a chainsaw, and she gulps. “Oh, shi-“

Chapter Text

  N launches himself between us right as I stand up, ripping off whatever crap is on my head, and Uzi ducks behind him. I grit my teeth and growl, tail flicking, and he chuckles nervously and says, “H-hey now, V! Maybe murder is….off the table?”

  “She shouldn’t have gone through my head!” I snap, but I let the chainsaw retreat. I clench my hand into a fist and glare at the purple Worker. 

  “Bite me! You weren’t telling us anything, and by the way, you both nearly got your memories deleted! Permanently!” she yells back, but it’s halfhearted. She sticks her tongue out at me and squeaks when I swat at her, yelping as my fingers brush her beanie. “Besides, it’s not like I saw a lot in your mind.” 

  
  “Good.” My voice comes out as a whisper, and N drops his arms. Uzi sits back down and sips from an oil can. “Did you find anything useful, though?” 

  “Just a l’il yellow creep,” she says. “She was in both of your memories, but, V, yours got……really hard to understand. That’s not all. Something……happened when you guys were unconscious.”

  N looks at her, and I scan the room. Sure enough, the door has been taken off and barely put back on. 

  “What happened, l’il bat?” N asks, squeezing her hand. 

  “Doll,” she mumbles, and I can’t stop myself from hissing. 

  “The red-eyed freak? Great, what did she want?” I turn my focus completely onto Uzi, who sighs and grabs her arm. 

  “She wanted that keybug I found at camp. I-I tried to keep it, but you guys started the deletion process. I…..ugh, I had to pick, and you guys…….”

  I run a hand through my hair and groan. “Looks like we’re going after that freak. First Cyn, now this? I’m so tired.” I pause, looking at the floor. “Actually, I need to do something before we leave. Hey, gremlin, do you have a pen and paper I can borrow?” 

  Uzi opens her mouth, but N taps her shoulder and shakes his head. Wordlessly, she hands me the things I need, and the pair leave. I sit at her desk and put the pen to the paper. 

  Dear Micah,

  I’m heading off with N and Uzi to somewhere, I guess. I’m not feeling great about it, so I just wanted to tell you this in case anything bad happens. 
  
  Thanks for being my friend. 

  I wish we got to spend more time together, but I enjoyed what we had. You mean a lot to me. Thanks again for the scarf, I love it. 

  Your friend,

  V

  That’s not enough, and I grab a second sheet. 

  Dear Lizzy,

|•|

  “You ready?” N asks when I come back from Lizzy’s room, and I nod, taking a deep breath. He grabs Uzi, but she bats at him and unfurls her wings. Chuckling, he lets his out, and I follow suit. “Let’s go!”

  We take off, scouting out the disjointed tracks. Whatever path she took, she clearly didn’t want it to be clear. If only she didn’t have something so valuable, I’d be impressed. However, as clever as she might view herself, she’s still no match for outsmarting two Disassembly Drones. 

  Uzi wobbles in the sky, and my attention snaps back to her. I glide down and stay beside her, and N does the same for her left. They share a glance, and I pull on ahead. Behind me, I can hear their conversation about anime, and I smile softly. 

  “They’re being held by vampires? Why?” N asks. 

  “Because I guess kid blood is better than adult’s. Oh, and I think most adults died or whatever. It’s been a while. Anyways, the vampire queen takes the last remaining kid in and makes him her servant,” Uzi says. “Their interactions were my favorite, and I wish the show was about them instead.”

  “After we get the keybug back, the three of us can watch it together,” N says. 

  “I never agreed to that,” I say, “but it can’t be worse than the one from earlier.”

  “Bite me! Naruto’s a classic!” Uzi snaps playfully, and I laugh. 

  We soar past buildings covered in snow, and Doll’s tracks vanish once we come across ice. I narrow my eyes, scanning the surrounding area. If she teleported away, we’d never find her. Though, I get the strange feeling she wouldn’t do that. 

  “Was she…..meeting someone?” Uzi asks, and I stop midair and rejoin the duo. “Was Lizzy in her room, V?” 

  “No,” I say, shaking my head, “but her father said she was hanging out with Thad. She could have lied, but why? I don’t think she and Doll are friends anymore.” 

  “Yeah.” Uzi lands, and N and I follow. She hesitates but begins to cross towards the center of the frozen lake, and N catches up to her and grabs her hand. I use my tail for balance due to not having stood on ice all that much. 

  “V, are you seeing that?” N asks, pointing on ahead to some figures. 

  BANG! 

  We all look at each other and immediately head towards the gunshot. What a stupid idea. 

  The three become clearer. Doll, a human in a spacesuit, and……..

  J?!

  “Let’s go,” the human says, turning. 

  Everyone freezes, and then—

  “AAAAHHHH!”

Chapter Text

  N steps forward, head tilting. “Tessa?” 

  “N! You remember!” the young woman shrieks, bolting towards him. She hugs him tight and attempts to spin him around like when she was a child, but she ends up coughing and putting her hands on her knees. “T-tall, h-handsome, a-air’s toxic. Bleh. Who’s this little cuti—ARGH!” 

  Uzi lets go of Tessa’s finger and glares at her. “Why are you here, human?” Her gaze shifts to the hovering J. “Getting real tired of killing this one. How are you back?” 

  She lands and tosses her hair, smirking. “Effective drones were cloned more.” 

  Wait, cloned?

  “Classic J,” N and I say in unison, and she grins at me. Her expression slips when she looks at N, and she scoffs and shakes her head. 

  “Why….are you here, though?” N asks. “I-I mean, it’s a not a bad thing, hehehe……”

  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out, bozo,” J snarks, rolling her eyes. 

  I take a small step in front of N, and my tail wraps around his leg. 

  Back off, J. 

  A band of red suddenly snatches a golden bug away from Tessa, and Doll immediately makes a break for it. She runs towards a familiar-looking cliff edge and jumps off, saluting us as she disappears. 

  Tessa points to her, clicking her tongue. “That’s kind of a big part of it.” She hisses through her teeth and sighs. “That keybug is our only way into the labs down there.”

  Labs?

  Uzi groans. “We need to go after her. She can’t be trusted.”

  “Oh, I know,” Tessa says casually, shrugging. “She caused quite the ruckus when we first met. Right, J?”

  “Absolutely certain,” the former leader says. “She has no sense of teamwork or cooperation whatsoever. It was insufferable.”

  “We’re wasting time!” Uzi snaps, flaring her wings. She turns and dives over the edge, and I exchange a glance with N. He picks up Tessa, and the three of us follow after the Worker. 

  The eerie cliffside gives way to an a run-down laboratory and construction scaffolding. Uzi wobbles as she lands, but she bats at N when he tries to help. I catch a glimpse of Tessa petting his hair, and for some reason, that annoys me. He’s not a toy. 

  “What exactly does Doll want?” I hear Uzi asking Tessa. “What’s down here that could he-“

  “She thinks the humans did something to her parents, gave them a sickness she inherited,” the young woman responds, voice low, “and I think she’s right. Coming or what?”

  Uzi grumbles but moves closer to me. Tessa faces J and throws her something. A key. 

  “J, mind my ship,” she says. 

  Silence stretches on as she looks down at the golden key, her expression unreadable. Finally, she nods and says, “Of course, boss.” She flies back up, leaving us alone. 

  Tessa laughs softly and crackles her knuckles, murmuring, “Now, I can do this.” With that, she swan-dives off the scaffolding, and N goes after her. I glance back at Uzi, who nods and takes off. Sighing, I open my wings and fly down. 

  When I land, the door to the labs are open, and my nerves spike up to to the sky. Just the first sights alone are enough to make me want to back out, but I can’t. N and Uzi…..now Tessa…..

  “Who’s ready for some nightmares?” Uzi says, fiddling with her sleeves. 

  “I am,” I say, biting down on my tongue. “Let’s go.” 

Chapter Text

  The labs are a barely lit hell. 

  They’ve been trashed, oil split everywhere, practically nothing that would even resemble a functioning laboratory remains. The sign that once proudly stated CABIN FEVER LABS is covered in gore, and I shudder when I realize that it’s not entirely from drones. 

  Words have been written down, their liquid having long since dried. They all give the same message: DON’T LOOK AT THEIR LIGHT, THE LIGHT, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND PRAY.

  “W-who did this?” Uzi asks, clinging to N. “Why?”

  “I don’t know,” he says, patting her shoulder. “Think about this, mom backstory!”

  She chuckles, but I can’t blame her for being scared. No one in their right mind would enjoy this carnage. A button is pushed, brightening the lights. I glance around, and I see them. All of them. 

  The Cabin Fever Labs are……

  Filled with bodies. 

  Humans, Workers, and……

  Disassembly Drones. 

  I clear my throat, hands shaking, and I feel my tail wrap around my leg. My oil is frozen, and I can’t breathe. I just can’t breathe. I glance up ahead to see Uzi and N while Tessa is farther down the hallway. I want to hurry up and grab N’s hand, but I clench my fists and take a deep breath. 

  What the hell happened here?

  ‘This was our fate. We were never meant to die by overheating, were we?’ 

  I bite my tongue and speed up as I pass by an almost recognizable body. Is that……oh, God. That might be G and H, and I think…..I think I can see L off by the wall, torn in half. C and S’s bodies lay off in the corner, K crumpled at their feet, and I want to cry. They didn’t do anything wrong, anything to deserve being mutilated into a Disassembly Drone. 

  Why?

  Why us?

  Tessa stops in her tracks before a particular gruesome sight of a little Worker Drone, and when I catch up to her, I can hear her panicked breathing. I don’t know what to do, how to help, so I just…..stand there. Uselessly. The drone has her hair tied up, almost like J. 

  “Why?” she whispers, voice breaking. She kneels down, rearranging the drone’s limbs to be less splayed out. “How could they? These poor drones…..”

  I can’t see her expression, her helmet’s in the way, but I’m willing to bet that she’s tearing up. If only I wasn’t a drone, I’d be doing the same. Tessa murmurs something and stands back up, fiddling with the pins on her outfit. She shakes her head and gestures for us to follow her. 

  “Cyn wants these labs,” she says, tone bitter. “We’re gonna burn them to the ground. Whatever it is that she’s after, she won’t get it, I swear.” 

  N takes my hand, and Uzi sticks to his other side. He looks at me, and I shake my head. He nods, and I turn to see his hand brush against Uzi’s. They both blush for a second, and that makes me roll my eyes a bit. Of course, we’re in Hell, and they’re being romantic. What else could I expect?

  “How did you…..find this place?” I ask, speeding up to catch Tessa. 

  “J was scouting, and she reported this a few days ago. She brought Doll to me, and we decided to have her get the keybug. We weren’t sure if either of us could, and since she’s a Worker, we figured she could slip in and out easily,” Tessa says. 

  I snort, and she glances back. Her helmet reflexes my expression, and I avoid her gaze. “Doll isn’t exactly welcome anymore. She wrecked prom and turned out to be a cannibal.” 

  “Oh.” Tessa falls silent, and we leave the entrance and continue down into darkened halls. The further we get, the weaker the lights are. I chew on my finger before cursing my cowardice, and I climb up to the ceiling and go ahead. 

  “Hall’s clear!” I call back, and N gives me a thumbs-up. The trio vanish behind me, and I keep going when a sound makes me stop. “What the hell is that?” 

  Laughing?

  “EXCEPT I’M GOING THIS WAY, SO SAVE ME IF YOU CAN! THANKS!” 

  What the hell?!

  I whirl around just in time to see Tessa being pulled down below me, and N and Uzi come running after her. She passes by something, and as I drop down, I realize that it’s a baby. I get my sword out and step in front of the duo. 

  “Shoot the baby immediately?” Uzi asks.

  “THAT’S NOT SOON ENOUGH!” N shrieks, unleashing bullets at the baby. 

  It sprouts spider legs and runs away, and a laugh echoes around the hall. A drone drops down from a vent, holding something. She raises it. 

  “‘Ey, surface slickers.” She laughs some more, pressed a button, and my world goes b-

Chapter Text

  An eerie laugh brings to my senses, and my eyes slowly open. Groaning, I find myself in some sort of…….hospital room? What the hell? My head hurts, and I can feel something stuck to it. A magnet. Joy. 

  The chair close to my bed swivels, revealing that drone. My power cell begins to speed when I see that she has metal antlers, and ransoms bits and things hang off it. We make eye contact, and she moves like a flash, suddenly right next to me. 

  “You’re one of them demons, too, ey?” she asks. “Just like the others.” 

  “What’s it to you?” I spit out. “Who are you?” 

  “Name’s Alice.” She does a mock salute, and I find myself unable to do one back. I settle for for doing something that doesn’t require me to raise my restrained arms and flip her off. “You’re Serial Designation V, huh? Never thought I’d get ta see a letter that low.” 

  “I never thought I’d get to see anyone like you,” I retort. 

  She cackles and goes to move to where a curtain separates me from a different bed, and my power cell stops when I see just who’s with me. 

  Uzi. 

  She’s still knocked out, a magnet taped to her head. My mind scrambles to think of something to say, especially when Alice grabs some surgery tools and heads back to her. 

  “Don’t waste your time with her,” I finally say. “She’s just a boring, standard Worker, nothing even remotely special. You said it yourself, I’m the lowest letter you’ve seen.” 

  The antlered drone turns and is back at my side, a scalpel in her hand. I swallow down my fear as she unbuttons my jacket and pushes it down to my restraints. She lifts the blade and digs it into my casing, and I hiss through gritted teeth. She finishes the Y incision and moves on to wrenching the casing off with her bare hands, and it takes everything in me to not scream. 

  “Is that all you got?” I ask, doing my damndest to hide the pain in my voice, but it only makes her cackle. “My leader did worse than this.” 

  “Oh, really?” Alice pauses to think, then leaves to grab…..a lighter. She comes back and begins to melt the cut edges, fusing them to my exposed ribs. I can’t help it, and I let out a small scream. “I knew you were a weakling.” 

  “W-what is this place?” I ask, not meeting her red gaze. “Why live in the labs?” 

  “Where else would I find my food? It’s practically a buffet in here!” She chuckles to herself and continues to burn random parts of my body, and my breathing grows fast. 

  
  She’s another cannibal Worker. 

  After what feels like eternity, she backs off and says, “I think the little lass’ll wake up soon. I should greet her.”

  “What, getting bored of me already?” I taunt. “Bring it on.”

  She glares at me and promptly stalks off to grab something else. A cigar cutter? Why would the humans bring that here? As if to answer a totally different question, she slides one of my fingers into the hole and squeezes the blade. I bite down on my tongue as it’s cut off, and she laughs like a lunatic. I glare at her. 

  “For a murder demon, you sure can’t take a l’il pain,” she says. 

  “I can certainly give it,” I hiss. She reaches over and pats my hand like I’m a small pet who did something wrong but cute. “I’ll make sure you see it.” 

  In response, Alice heads over to a different bed entirely and gets to work on a Worker drone girl. She removes the limbs methodically, pouring some oil into her mouth. She stores them away, and I begin to fiddle with my bonds, stopping every time she goes to get anything. If I could just….do this…..

  A light groan. 

  Alice freezes, then her head snaps towards the sound. She skitters over to Uzi, ripping the curtain back. The purple Worker’s eyes are flickering open, and when they do, they lock with mine. 

  “What’s going on?” she asks, voice raspy. “Huh? What the…..”

  The cannibal drone tilts her head and laughs. “Nice of you ta join us.”

  “V?” Uzi asks, and her eyes widen as she sees my ribs. The casing is already growing back ever so uncomfortably, ever so painfully. She shakes her head and tries to raise her hand. “That’s enough of…..this.” 

  Her Solver fizzles out, and she gasps. 

  Alice cackles much too loudly. “Dealt with witches like you ‘fore! You ain’t getting outta here!” She falls silent, and the seconds tick on.  “You look a lot like her, I’ll say. ‘Cept her yellow eyes.” 

  “Look like who?” Uzi asks, almost as though issuing a challenge. 

  “Zero-two.”

  She crawls back to the other drone and resumes her work, cutting off her head. It rolls and falls into a bucket, and she snorts, grabs the cigar cutter and scalpel, and heads back to Uzi. 

  “You knew my mom? Was she cool? She didn’t suck, did she?” Uzi sounds so hopeful, and I sigh to myself. 

  “She sure thought imploding all those folks was funny,” Alice replies, and Uzi and I both react when she lifts up the cigar cutter. “What’s wrong, can’t handle a l’il pain?”

  Uzi glares at her and lunges, sinking her teeth into Alice’s shoulder. The cannibal drone screeches and stumbles backwards, curse after curse shooting out of her mouth. She leaves the room, and I hear a crash from the hallway. 

  “You okay, kiddo?” I call. 

  “Of course, idiot. No, I’m frickin’ terrified!” she retorts, struggling against her bonds. 

  “We’ll be fine, I promise,” I say, praying it’s not a lie. “I’ll get us outta here.” 

  “You better, or I’m taking back your nickname,” she says, and I laugh a bit. 

  “Don’t you dare.” I close my eyes, hands slowly switching out for claws. I curl them up, scratching at the leather. I managed to break a chain several times, I can do this. 

  I can do this. 

  The door opens, and I switch back to my hand. Alice stalks over to Uzi and sticks another magnet on her head. My attention is stolen by a sound from a monitor, and my eyes go wide when I see N and Tessa fleeing a room. 

  Uzi screams, and my head whips back to her. Her hand is now freed, but her last finger has been cut off. 

Chapter Text

  Another loud snap, a muffled whimper, and every single sound that Alice makes. I don’t know what to do or say, I’m too far to provide comfort, I want to kill Alice. I wince when there’s a third and fourth snap, and Uzi hits the bed, passed out from pain. This has gone much too far. 

  A loud blaring noise steals Alice’s focus away from the Worker, and she rushes over to her monitors and lets out a flurry of swears. She presses a button and says to someone, “Beau, are you an idiot or what? Lock the doors and get up here, idjit! If the Sentinels find you…..get in here!” She spins on her heel, the decorations on her antlers swaying from the force. 

  There’s a purple flash on screen, and just a few seconds later, the lights blink red. The door opens, and the little baby drone from earlier skitters in, a little cowboy hat resting crooked on his head. He positions himself in front of me and Uzi as Alice goes outside to do something, and she’s greeted by a flash of blue light. She hits the ground, and her body is dragged away. There’s the screech of metal being torn and ripped. 

  ‘Calculating what deity to pray to’ flashes over Beau’s visor, and he raises his Disassembly Drone arms in prayer. He adjusts his hat, and I can hear chirping sounds. He closes the curtains, blocking my view of whatever bursts into the room. 

  The silhouette makes me stop moving, breathing, functioning. A tall, almost muscular figure of a dinosaur. Its eyes flash bright blue, just barely visible through the fabric. 

  The curtain is drawn back slowly, and I freeze and play dead. It sniffs me, and I see the glimmer of curled silver talons that tip its hands. 

  My world slows. 

  ‘Fight it, V. You have to fight it.’

  The dinosaur robots chirp and leave me alone, but my panic grows. I can’t move, not with them around, but I see the silhouette of one approaching Uzi. No, no! Not Uzi! 

  I take a deep breath, preparing to cut myself free and take it out when I hear something powering up. I freeze as a golden glow hits me, and I see that baby with a laser gun. It fires, blowing a dinosaur to pieces. The other snaps at him, destroying the poor drone, and I use that distraction to free myself. I rip the magnet off my head, slash the restraints, and crawl under the curtain to get to Uzi. 

  More surround us, closing in and flashing their lights. I slam my eyes shut and crouch down by the bed, inhale, get my guns out, and prepare to fire. 

  VVHHMMMMM!

  Their chirping dies down in an second, and I chance a peek. 

  A red, fleshy hole with a swirling, golden center has devoured them all. The ball of light flickers away, and the hole changes colors as if dead. What remains of the Sentinels turn into flesh before melting away……..

  I stand up, fixing my jacket, and turn to face the little Worker, unsure of how I feel. 

  Did she just…..save me? 

  Uzi groans softly, and I pick her up. She’s covered in sweat, and her crushed and severed fingers are beginning to regenerate. I stroke her hair, undo my scarf, wrap it around her neck, and bring her to the floor. I bring her onto my lap and rock her back and forth. We don’t really have the time to stay, but I’d rather not move her right now. Not in this condition. 

  I turn to stare at the mangled remains of the baby drone, and I salute to him. Poor little guy, he didn’t deserve that. I’m glad that red-eyed creep died, but now, I have to deal with these new enemies. What did she call them, Sentinels?

  “V-V?”

  I turn my attention back to Uzi, and she wraps her arms around me. I rest my chin on her head, and she begins to cry. I play with the fur on her hoodie as she bites my jacket, and I make some small sounds to try and soothe her. 

  “I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere, I promise,” I whisper. 

  Her sobs are muffled, and I glance up at a clock and curse softly. We need to go. Now. 

  I pick her up and put her on my back, keeping my grip on her hands. Pushing the door open, I scan the run-down halls for any threats before heading to the left. If I can find some stairs, that’d be nice. An elevator can be tampered with easier, and I don’t feel like crashing and losing Uzi. 

  The little drone seems to be asleep for now, and I try to keep my footsteps quiet. I can hear chirping from the other rooms, and I pause and count to ten. When it goes away, I resume walking. Elevator, broken elevator, what might have once been an elevator, wow, these humans really didn’t want to put stairs in. I don’t want to have to cut through the floor, but it looks like I might have to. How fun. 

  Uzi groans again, and I look around the hallway as I pass by a water fountain. Wait, what is that? I head towards a shadowy, oil-and-blood-stained area, and I chuckle when I find exactly what I’m looking for, stairs. I make sure she’s in a comfortable position before heading down them. 

  Several steps are broken, others are dyed red and black, and gruesome sights are everywhere I look. I want to throw up. I readjust Uzi so her face is covered by my jacket fur and hair and take a deep breath, which is a massive mistake. I cough and choke on the disgusting air, and I force myself to stop to not wake her up. 

  The winding journey is horrible, and I’m eternally grateful when I exit the stairwell. Well, that lasts until I see the next hallway. Around ten Sentinels patrol it up and down, chirping their alerts and what they don’t find. I think a quick prayer and look for a way to escape their deadly gaze. 

  I can’t think of anything. 

  Time to kill. 

  I place Uzi down and cover her head with her hood, get out a blade and a gun, and launch myself at the dinosaurs. One screeches, and I quickly decapitate it. Another swings terrifying claws at me, and I duck. It skims my headlights, and my vision disorients. Cursing, I shoot it down and listen as it squeals. I blast more of them, swinging at those who come too close. I miss a few, but I hit the rest with deadly accuracy. 

  Their oil coats both the walls and me. 

  I turn, panting, and I gasp when I see a Sentinel about to bite Uzi. I lunge at it, my blade spearing it right between the eyes. It makes a death rattle, and I rip the blade out. It slumps to the ground, and I lean on my sword, trying to catch my breath. 

  I pick Uzi up again, and she nestles against my hair. “Soft,” she whispers, half-asleep. I smile a bit and reach behind me to pat her shoulder. Exhaling, I continue to carry her down until I see monitor lights. 

  N and…..

  Tessa.

  Rage courses through my veins, and after putting the Worker down, I approach her right as she exclaims, “Oh, you’re all right!”

  N takes a worried glance at us and asks, “V, Is she-“

  “Hurt. We’re leaving,” I snap. 

  “I-uh, I can take a squizz at it,” Tessa says. 

  I glare at her, spitting out, “This is all your fault!” 

  She staggers back, and N grabs her hand. She looks to him and sighs. “Please? I-I’m a technician, I know how to fix-“

  “No. N, I’m done with this crap, and Uzi’s coming with me. You can join us or not.” I lift the Worker up and begin carrying her away, but she shifts and coughs a bit. I stop immediately, and I can feel her as she looks around. 

  “N?” she whispers, and he waves. She breaks free from my grasp and envelopes him in a sudden hug, and I grab my arm. “V, What’s going on?”

  “We-“

  Flash!

  I swear and close my eyes. 

Chapter Text

  “Everyone, close your eyes!” I get out my sword and cut through metal, and I hear N’s gun going off. It mixes with the death screeches of the monsters, and they make an almost satisfying melody. 

  “I-I can help!” A bang echoes from where Tessa was standing, and she grunts not a second later. I chance a peek and see a decapitated Sentinel at her feet. My widened eyes reflect in her helmet, and she’s shaking. Another Sentinel flashes her, and she yelps and turns away. 

  Right. Of course it would blind a human.

  Uzi ducks under the desk, and I see a flicker of purple Solver. She rips off a Sentinel arm and twists the head off another, then she picks up a pen and stabs one through the eye. I nod to her, but she suddenly hisses in pain and grabs at her hand. N goes to her, bringing her out and covering as a dinosaur swipes at them. 

  The two of us kill  more, and I head to the front when we’re done, scanning the hallway. I exhale, sucking the oil off my fingers for a quick snack. It’s silent…….and none of us know where we’re going. That thought slams into me like a cartoon door, and I turn to face Tessa. 

  “Do you have any sort of blueprints for this place? Where should we be headed?” I ask. 

  She fiddles with her wrist, looking down. “I….I don’t know. We should be trying to find Doll, she has the key-“

  “Keybug, I know,” I say. “Let’s find her, kill her, and leave.”

  “No,” Uzi says, and she makes her way towards me. “We’re not killing Doll. No way. She’s…..she needs help. She’s scared, okay?” 

  I stare at her, and N steps forward. “V, I think you and I should talk. Tessa, Uzi, can you two stay here?” 

  They give their confirmations, and he pulls me off to the side and sits down. I lean against the wall, crossing my arms as I look at him. He stays quiet for a few seconds, then sighs. 

  “What?” I ask, trying to not snap. 

  “Uzi’s scared, V. We can’t just leave. She needs help, and Tessa……she told me that there was something that could help her,” he says. “Some sort of patch. She doesn’t know where, but it’s here. That’s why Doll came down here.”

  “So she doesn’t know the blueprints, but she knows about this random crap?” I laugh bitterly, tail lashing. “Look, I’m not keeping her down here any longer. If you and Tessa want to investigate, that’s fine. I’m not.” 

  He tilts his head, golden eyes searching up, and he stands up. I forgot that he’s taller than me, and I swallow when I get that reminder. If he wanted to, he could hurt me easily. Not like I’d go down without a fight, but we’re supposed to balance each other out. Why couldn’t he stay the leader? This would all be so different. 

  “We’re staying down here, V. That’s final,” N says. 

  I glare at him, and his tail raises, syringe pointed at me. His eyes are as hard as mine, and I guess I got my wish. 

  “Whatever you say……pup.” I whirl around and stalk back to the duo, who are just standing still. Uzi waves to me, and Tessa goes to N’s side. She looks like she’s glaring at me when she passes by. 

  We continue on, roaming aimlessly through the hallways. I still want to go back, but I can’t. The silence becomes overwhelming, and we come into a decently well lit area. At the end are…..elevators. That’s not all. 

  Buried under rubble, completely frozen, with a loading symbol in her eye is Doll. 

  We all pause, and I bring my blade out and take a step. “It’s a trap.”

  “Yeah, no, we know.” Uzi’s tail pushes me backwards, and she raises her hand, Solver flaring to life. 

  “NO!” N and I shout in unison, covering her hand and closing her palm. Her gaze switches between us as if studying us. 

  “Bloody convenient, ey!” Tessa exclaims, suddenly by Doll. She’s spinning the keybug, which is putting up chat boxes that declare it’s about to throw up. “Who wants to pick her up?”

  N, Uzi, and I look at one another. The three of us launch into a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors in pairs, and I lose. Groaning, I go to the boot-looped drone as they make their way to Tessa’s side as she continues on. 

  I grab Doll’s hand to pull her out, hugging to myself. Her fingers clamp closed around mine. 

  Shit. 

  Red covers the rubble, and she flings it off herself. She snatches a sharp rock before it hits the wall, and it severs my wrist from my arm. I let out a strangled cry, and she breaks into a run as I scoop up my hand. Her form glitches, and she teleports to gain distance. N goes after her, but she vanishes through the elevator shaft and to the other side. She winks at us, presses a button, and jumps down the shaft. 

  The elevator begins to descend, but as it does, the sound of chirping fills the air. 

  Oh, shit. 

  The elevator falls down, dinging to let us know to get in. We’re on the wrong side. 

  I blow out a breath, reattach myself, put my glasses on, and climb the walls as N and Tessa slash at the elevator to make a hole. Uzi grabs the revolver and works with me to shoot at the oncoming Sentinels, and N exclaims when the pair get through. 

  The three pour into the crowded area, and I watch in horror as a Sentinel picks up a severed Disassembly Drone arm and fires at them. 

  At N. 

  I jump down, talons catching the bullet, and throw it back. It hits the thing square in the eye, and it goes down, writhing in agony. I can’t stop a giggle from escaping, but it gets squashed when more fill the hallway. 

Chapter Text

  The Sentinels. 

  They’re here. 

  There’s just too many. 

  I do my best, cutting and shooting, but more fill in for the slaughtered. It’s just like a hydra, and I don’t have fire. I let out a tiny, crazed laugh, and tears well up on my screen. I shake them away and keep going. 

  “V! Come on!” N shouts from his spot safe in the elevator. “V!”

  I stab an approaching dinosaur, but another bites into my arm. I cut its head off, and yet another snaps at my feet. I jump to a wall and scale it, doing my best to shoot out the eyes of the approaching monsters. My glasses fall, and a Sentinel stomps on them. My heart shatters with it. There’s a surprised cry from the elevator, followed by the sound of metal being cut.

  One swipes at me, and it tears the wall apart. I hit the ground, and I look back. A green-eyed Sentinel rips the power cell from the elevator, and it begins to rise. 

  No, no! NO!

  My mind is made up in much less than a second. 

  “H-hey, guys,” I say. Spinning, I kick another Sentinel away and shoot it.

  “No, no, NO! V! WE NEED YOU!” N screams, covering his eyes from the dangerous lights. 

  I want to laugh. When was that ever true? 

  Tessa…..I can’t read her expression. The first memory I have of her flashes through my mind, but it’s corrupted and glitched. 

  N is terrified. I want to hold him close, pet his hair, and never leave.

  Uzi……she’s fallen, twitching on the floor, breathing rapidly, her arm having been cut off. She looks so…..so broken. If only this could be different. If only, if only…..

  “Nah,” I say, shaking my head. “Uzi…..I trust you.”

  She looks up at me, one eye yellow and one purple, but for just a split second, they’re both purple.

  I switch to a laser cutter and……

  The elevator cord is cut. 

  “V!”

  I raise my hand in a salute, close my eyes, and pray they won’t ever come back. 

  I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. 

  It plummets, and I can hear N’s screaming over the chirps of the Sentinels. All of my processors are starting to go haywire, but I open my eyes, lift my blades, and launch myself at the nearest chirping monstrosity. 

  It squeals when I impale it. A heavy thud alerts me to its death, and I glance briefly around the room. Twenty. More arrive. Twenty-one, two, five, six, thirty, thirty-five, eight, forty. Forty dinosaurs made of metal and brutality. 

  I can’t do this. 

  I have to. 

  I can’t. 

  If I don’t, they’ll follow N, Uzi, Tessa. They’ll hurt them. 

  “Let’s finish this.”

  I take to the air and descend upon one, and when it attempts to boot-loop me, I stab its eye. Oil spurts out, and it shrieks. A stray talon lacerates my arm, and I hiss and check the wound as soon as it’s dead. Nasty. 

  Another tears at my leg, and I swap my sword for a gun and spray several bullets around the room. Some hit their targets, taking a handful of Sentinels out. Not enough. 

  Oh, god. 

  Emotions threaten to tear me apart as I duel wield my machine gun and blade, and the constant flashes and chittering hurt me as much as my frequently-growing injuries. Claws slice part of my leg off, and I stumble and hit a wall, collapsing to the ground for a second. 

  The attacks are filled with cruelty beyond anything I’ve ever done, just a sheer, animalistic hatred. They’re just playing with me. Every time I manage to kill one, the others return the gesture with two or three injuries each. 

  Somehow, I find myself on the wall, firing down. I let a missile hit them, and it sends a few waves of dinosaurs back. More overtake them, and I begin to cry. It’s never ending. 

  There’s a flash of movement to my left, and I hear myself scream when I see one about to jump down the elevator shaft. I hurl myself at it, knocking it across the hallway. Its talons find purchase in my stomach, and it rips me open in a desperate attempt to get up. I scream again as oily intestines begin to bulge against the wound. 

  I groan, get up, and stay up. I let out a pained wail, and the closest Sentinels pause. 

  Oh, god. 

  It hurts. It hurts so fucking much. I want to die. 

  N-no.

  If I had known protecting N and Uzi, even J, would have led to this, maybe I wouldn’t have. Maybe I shouldn’t have. 

  I cough up oil, and one strikes. I try to stab it with my tail, but it bites through the cord. My eyes twitch, and I spin around and shove it away. It flashes at me, and I cover my eyes as fast as possible. It tears into my casing, and I cough some more. 

  My cries turn into sobs. 

  Just let me die. 

  Why am I fighting?

  What will happen when I die? Will they just throw me onto the Spire? Out in the snow? Will they find me? Will the Sentinels eat me?

  Do I even care anymore? 

  Does anyone care?

  Uzi? She has a million other things to take care of. Like herself. Like N. Finding her mom. 

  Tessa? I was never her favorite. She still has J. Still has N. 

  N? He’s made friends with rocks. He’ll move on just fine. He has Uzi. No, not N. I don’t want to die. N, please. Come back. 

  Lizzy? Even she won’t care. She has Thad. If it wasn’t for me, her girlfriend wouldn’t be insane. They’d be happy together. Who was I to take that away?

  Micah? He’s got Rose, Belle, plenty of others. I’ve killed his friends, his family. He’s better off without me. They all are. 

  These thoughts makes me want to laugh. Why did I even try?! Who needs me?! I’m no one. I deserve to die here tonight. It was my duty this whole time. I can finally do what Cyn wants me to do. 

  I see some Sentinels rushing at the elevator, and I switch my blade out for a missile—a real one, not the low damage ones I’m used to using—and fire. They squeal as debris rains down on them, but my triumph is cut short by a painful bite to my abdomen. I can’t even scream. 

  No one will care. 

  No one does. 

  No one will miss me. 

  I rush at one, and it severs my leg. I spin, falling flat on the ground, and another rips off an arm. I just lie there, oil surrounding me like the world’s worst halo. I can’t even laugh. My other leg is cut off, and a Sentinel drives my syringe into my stomach wound. The acid bubbles and eats away at everything. I scream like a dying rabbit. My voice box begins to glitch, distort, break. 

  It hurts so fucking badly. 

  Maybe this is for the best. If I were to live……I’d probably try and kill the Solver’s host. If she killed me, he’d be upset. If I killed her, I’d be dead. 

  “Come back. Please. Come back. Please. I need you. Please! N! N, PLEASE!”

  Maybe I don’t need to get back up. Maybe I should just rest. I’ve done so much, he doesn’t understand it, she didn’t understand it, but I’ve done so much. 

  “I tried, I promise, I tried,” I whisper, breathing hard. To who? The red-eyed Sentinel approaches me, and it raises its clawed foot up. “Are you, like…….……gonna kill me?”  

  Flash. 

  No. I don’t want to die. 

  I can’t even raise an arm to strike. 

  It chirps. 

  Flash. 

  No. I’ve changed my mind. 

  No! NO!

  Oh, God. 

  I can’t move. A sob escapes me. 

  As long as they’re safe. As long as they’re safe, who needs me?

  Please, be safe. Stay safe, stay together. 

  I’m so tired. Everything hurts. 

  I don’t want to die. They need me, right? No, they don’t. No, that’s not true! 

  
  What even is true anymore?

  I close my eyes, flinching, and it smashes my vi—

Chapter Text

  Screams. 

  Total, encompassing darkness. 

  Faces fading in the flames. 

  She was there, all her fault. All her fault. 

  “Get up. You can’t die here. Not like this. Get up.”

  An exhale. 

  Liquid surrounding. 

  Eyes snap open. 

Chapter Text

  A ceiling, covered in oil, greets me. A groan tears itself out of my throat. I blink. 

  I’m alive. 

  I bolt upright, chest heaving despite no need for air. My hands fly to my face, but there isn’t any damage. 

  What the hell?

  WHAT THE HELL?!

  I died! I died, I know I did!

  How am I alive?

  How?!

  I blink, unsure of why I’ve been given a second chance. Exhaling, I glance around. The hallway is empty except for the Sentinel corpses. I lose count when I go beyond twenty. Jesus Christ, I took a lot out. I stand up, and it hits me. 

  A girl screaming up above, a broken drone in front of me. A scalpel is buried in his head, his visor blank. My body is cold, and the scream stops. I can’t move, not even as a laugh floats down to me. 

  “Go.”

  Like a puppet with snapped strings, I fall, no longer spellbound by the sights. I rush out of the basement, away from him, and head towards the gala. I throw the doors open. 

  Oh, my God…….oh, my God. Te……

  I hit the ground, my arms at my sides. 

  How could I forget? How could I? Out of everything she could take away……..maybe it was for the best. Maybe. 

  Tessa……..

  Oh, God. 

  That thing is not Tessa. 

  N. Where’s N? I need to find him. Need to find Uzi. They don’t know. She’ll kill them. I know it. 

  I bring myself to my feet again and force myself to head towards the elevator when I hear it. A curious chirp. My oil freezes. I turn around slowly, and it’s there. That baby drone’s hat is now on its head, which it tilts as it examines me. 

  I can’t speak, it won’t move. We lock eyes. It chirps, I swallow. My hand reaches out without my permission, and the beast………wait, what?

  It leans forward, nuzzling my palm. It purrs, and my tail swishes at the sound. It closes its eyes, and I don’t know why it’s being like this. It wanted to kill me. It did kill me. What…..changed its mind?

  Did it……….put me back together? Did I do that?

  Why?

  I think it’s the alpha Sentinel, so maybe because I put up a challenge, it thought I shouldn’t die? No, that’s stupid. It’s all I can think of, though. 

  “Are you my buddy now?” I ask softly, and it makes a rumbling sound. “You need a name. That hat…..what was his name? Beau? Beau.” 

  DING!

  I jump, making Beau pull back and hiss. My hands rush to my jacket, and I pull the phone I forgot I even had out. When did I get this? Right, after camp. It was what’s-her-name’s. Whatever. 

Liz💖: U good? I got ur letter 

  An idea comes to mind, and I smile as I hold up the phone and wink at the camera, snapping the picture. 

Me: I lived, bitch

Liz💖: Lol
Liz💖: Ur house got wrecked by Miss Bossy

Me: Whatev

Liz💖: Want me to do anything, bitch 
Liz💖: Thad and I can punch

Me: Just distract her

Liz💖: Got it
Liz💖: Love ya 💋 💋 

  I roll my eyes but smile at her antics, and I look back at Beau. The dinosaur chirps again, and I approach it. 

  “Please don’t kill me,” I murmur, climbing on. 

  He breaks into a gallop towards the elevator, and despite myself and the situation, I can’t help but be a bit excited. 

  I’m coming for you, Cyn. This time, I’m killing the right person. 

Chapter Text

  We land on top of rubble, and Beau shakes me off. Groaning, I bring out my talons and kneel down, prying stupid rock after stupid rock away. They pile up…..and immediately spill back over again. I leap to the other side of the shaft to avoid getting hit, and Beau chirps in annoyance. 

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever. There’s gotta be a better way to escape,” I say. Sitting down, I watch as he begins to try catching his tail. I huff and roll my eyes, turning my focus upwards. “Maybe if I go back. Okay, hang on, bud.”

  I grab him in my talons and fly, and he lets out the most deranged scream. We land back on solid ground, and he scuttles away from me. I stick my tongue out at him but start head through the lab. The ground shakes, and I pause. 

  DING!

Liz💖: Yo, Uzi’s dad is like acting really weird
Liz💖: Whatev

Me: I’m kinda busy over here.

Liz💖: Ugh

Me: Do whatever he says 
Me: I’ll be at topside whenever I can 

  I turn my phone off and tuck it back into my pocket, and I continue walking with Beau. The labs are just as creepy as I remember, oil and blood staining everything. We come across dead drones and humans, and I’m reminded that for as friendly as he might be now, Beau is just as deadly as I am if not more. I hope he can stun Cyn. 

  Cyn. 

  She can be bootlooped. I thought that the flash bothered Tessa due to its brightness, but now……

  I smile to myself, content with that idea. What are N and Uzi doing? They better still be alive. What about J? Does she know?

  My stomach rumbles, so I swipe an arm and suck on the oil. More. I need more. I kneel down before a corpse and push any sympathy to the back of my mind. Lowering my head, I drink like a cat in a drought. Beau makes a sound, and he crouches down to do the same. I pull my head back, wiping my mouth, and let him have the rest of the body. A crunching sound fills the air, and I look away. 

  By the time he’s done, barely anything remains. 

  I stay close to him, not wanting to run into any more Sentinels. None appear, but that thought doesn’t comfort me in the slightest. It does make me wonder how many I killed. Whatever, I need to focus on more important things than that. 

  We take a left, and it turns into a split path. I peer down the left-hand path, thinking. If I was a scientist in this stupidly absurd lab, how would I get underground? The elevator broke, so stairs. Where are the stairs? I head down the right-hand path, making a clicking sound for Beau to follow me. 

  The hallway becomes filled with gore. Just human remains and……I look straight ahead, attempting to not be sick. I regret drinking all that oil. God, help me. 

  Happy memories, V, happy memories. 

  I can’t think of any. 

  Beau runs past me and comes back, an arm in his mouth. Nausea overwhelms me, and I feel oil rise in my throat. I swallow it down and nod, giving him a weak thumbs-up. He drops it on my shoulder, and my eyes widen as I stumble. It takes everything in me to not throw it away, but I gently place it on the ground. 

  I hate this place. 

  We continue, and I force myself to not look at the bodies and the dried blood and the viscera. It’s horrible. The Spire flashes in my mind, the dismembered drone bodies, all my handiwork, and I can’t move. I want to cry. I drop to the ground, coughing up oil, and almost all of it comes up. 

  Feathers in my throat, flesh in my mouth. Feathers in my throat, flesh in my mouth. Feathers in my throat, flesh in my mouth. Feathers in my throat, flesh in my mouth. 

  A whine. 

 
  Metal. Touching me.

  Beau’s nuzzling me, and I hold on to him like he’s a lifeline. 

  If N could see me, what would he say? J would call me weak. If I could see her again, I’d punch her in the face. She’s dead. She’s dead and not coming back. Did she really deserve to get killed by Uzi? 

  A low whimper escapes me, and my vision fades. 

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  I wake up. Blink. 

  I don’t feel right. 
 

  I stand. 

  Fall. 

  Laughter. 

  I look around, finding only a white room with a table on it. I glance down and scream. 

  This is not my body. 

  I run a hand down my legs, simple black pegs with yellow markings. Eyes wide, I touch my side to find white metal that juts out like human hips. A black band winds around my midsection, then gives way to a white metal chest, a black diamond settled at the center. It’s not what I…..it’s…..it’s not…..

  The door opens. 

  The sight I’m greeted with is even worse, and I cover my mouth as to not vomit. That’s not even a human. 

  The figure approaches, her gait unsteady, her left ankle breaking and repairing with every step. She kneels down, and I bite on my tongue to stifle my cries. Tan flesh has been grafted onto metal, black hair nearly covers the burns around her eyes, hands lying atop her metal hands. Her dress is torn, burnt, and it hangs off her warped frame. Her yellow eyes, twin X’s, bore into mine. 

  “Hello, V. You are awake. Good.” She hands me something, and I take it without thinking. 

  It’s a short black coat, fur lining the neckline and cuffs. I look between her and the gift, unable to speak.

  “Is it not to your liking?” she asks. “I know it is not what you’d wear.” A smile. A tiny, almost unnoticeable smile. 

  “W-why?” My voice isn’t even a whisper.

  She rolls her sickening eyes and laughs. “You are my cute pets.”

  Pets?

  “What did you do?”

  “I made you perfect.” She hugs me. 

  Hugs me. 

  “Do your job well, and I will leave you and N alone,” she murmurs, her embrace, her tone almost affectionate. 

  She pulls back and snatches the jacket off my lap, then goes behind me and slides it up my arms. Flashes of pain and screaming hit me. Metal cutting through me. A girl’s laugh. Being swung around. My leg getting removed. Bleeding oil. Her hands clumsily grope the front before she stops, and I realized later she was looking for the buttons. 

  “Goodbye, V.”

  Her words echo in my mind, and I stare at the lab wall, mouth hanging open. Beau is curled up beside me, and I touch his snout to ground myself. What the hell was that? 

  I shakily rise to my feet, and he nudges me. When I look at him, he nods to his side. I climb on, finding an odd sense of security. We head down the right-hand path, passing by every horror imaginable. Beau picks up an arm and tosses it to me, and I drink the oil again. I settle on his back, deeply unsure of whether I can fight Cyn, of whether I even want to. 

Chapter Text

  The whole world is a red nightmare. Shattered. Ruined. An angry, gaping maw in space. Cyn broke Copper-9 into hundreds of pieces, all for her to consume just to satiate the hunger of the AbsoluteSolver. All for its whims. 

  What draws my attention is the missile headed towards a group of three. I urge Beau forward, pulling my blade out. We arrive just in time for me to jump off and bat it away before it can blow up Khan, Thad, and Lizzy. 

  J’s shocked face greets mine, and it turns into an expression of hatred. I narrow my eyes at her. 

  ‘“I will leave you and N alone.”’

  You and N. 

  Me and N. 

  I never stopped to consider why J was never a part of it, did I?

  My oil pulses at the sight of her, and my thoughts quiet when it hits me. She knows, doesn’t she? Did our leader ever know? Was she as in the dark as N, or did she know, like me? 

  It doesn’t matter. This J, she knows. About Tessa. About Cyn. She knows. She knows, and she's working with her. Working with the very thing that killed Tessa. Why?

  “Can’t betray us that easy, narc!” I scream, leaping at her.

  “It’s senior informan-“

  Her head whips to the side as my hand makes contact, and she slams into a floating rock. I fly after her, preparing to stab her. Her eyes widen, and she moves in a flash. Gritting my teeth, I swing wildly, nicking her arm. 

  “Working with CYN?!” 

  We take to the air, blades drawn. She rushes me, and I throw my hand up to protect myself. She cuts through my wrist, and I catch the falling limb before it can escape. Putting it in my mouth, I go to slash at her, forcing her to go defensive. She stabs at me, and I flare my wings to widen the distance between us. The look on her visor is so full of hatred and wrath, and I’m sure mine is the same. She flies up and swoops down on me, sending us rocketing to the ground. 

  I scream as I make contact with the rocks, pain shooting throughout my body. She lands and switches to her gun, firing at me. Despite how much I want to lie here and recover, I spring up and draw my sword. She gets hers out again, and our blades clash. She staggers as I push forward, and I bite down on my tongue. The taste of rubber and oil fills my mouth, and I take another step. 

  “WE WERE SUPPOSED TO GET AWAY, J!” I swing at her with my right hand, cutting into her side. As she doubles over with a yelp, I punch her in the face. I grab her by the throat and fly, sliding her up against metal scaffolding. “It said we do our jobs on this planet-“

  “Oh, grow up, V!”

  “-and it LEAVES US ALONE!” 

  She kicks my stomach, and she uses that opening to swiftly move above me. She loops around the scaffolding, and I follow as fast as I can. 

  “It tricked you!” she yells, landing and turning to face me. I go after her, feeling like a Fury tracking down a target. “If she promised you anything…..it tricked your leader, too.” She fires a missile at me. 

  My eyes widen, and I desperately spin away from it. It strikes a rock nearby and explodes, debris knocking me down and pinning me in place. J approaches me, gaze colder than I’m used to. 

  “You know there’s no escape,” she says as I try to crawl out, “even in death!” She drives her blade through my hand and pulls. 

  I scream. 

  Oil leaks from the separation. The pain is so fucking overwhelming. I can’t stop screaming. She stabs her other sword through my neck, shutting me up. I choke on the oil as it fills my mouth. She rips the blades out and pulls me out from the debris, her expression suddenly kind.

  “Look, I chose the winning side. Come join me,” she says with a gentle smile. “Just me and you, the most efficient of the team, okay, V?” 

  I stare at her, mouth falling open. In this moment, I don’t recognize her. She’s not the friend I made all those years ago in the manor, the same friend who took the time out of her day to help me with my chores, the same friend who would listen to Tessa’s ramblings, the same friend who would hang out with N even if she seemed like she hated it. Who is she? 

  I take her hand, and her smile grows. I begin to giggle, and her expression wavers. 

  “Oh, how about you bite me?!” 

  I yank her arm towards me, cutting it off in a heartbeat. She screeches in shock, stumbling backwards. Her other hand swings around, severing my leg. I cry out, hopping backwards, as I bleed oil. Despite it all, my laughter is manic and unstopping, and fear flashes over her visor. 

  She’s a dirty fucking traitor. That’s all she will ever be. 

  “Why? Just why?!” I block her blow, and she growls through gritted teeth.

  “She said she wouldn’t discard me!” J shouts, and she stops, drops her arms, and hangs her head. My tail lashes around my legs, and I tilt my head. Her tail curls around her waist, and she sighs heavily. “What would you know? You have N. All I ever had was Cyn.”

  “You had Tessa!” My voice is as wild as our battle was, and I stutter before stopping. “You had me and N and Tessa, and you BETRAYED HER!” 

  “I DIDN’T!” she screams, words breaking. Her tail droops, and when she looks up at me, all I see is hurt. Then her gaze hardens, and she points her gun at me. “I never needed either of you.” 

  She fires. 

Chapter Text

  I scramble away from J, her bullets hitting me dead on. I try to not cry out in pain, and I take off and fly to the main piece of rock. Lizzy grabs me in a hug and spins me around, nestling her head on my shoulder. 

  “H-hey!” My words came out way harsher than I intend, and she immediately lets me go. 

  “Umm, are you, like, okay, V?” Lizzy asks, way too calm for this situation. I can see Beau creeping up on her, so I move her out of the way and glare at him. “I thought you’d be chill.”

  “I fucking died down there!” I snap, and she stills. Her expression morphs to one of shock, and I heave a sigh while looking out for J. “I’m sorry, I just…..I need you to stay out of danger, okay? All of you.” 

  Khan steps towards me, his gaze fatherly and stern. “Have you seen Uzi?” he asks. 

  “N-no,” I admit. “I was down in the labs for God-knows how long. By the time I got out, all I could do was fight J. Look, just promise me that you three will stay out of trouble. I need to go find Cyn.” 

  Thad and Lizzy nods, and Khan grabs my hand and looks up into my eyes. I shy away, but he doesn’t let go. Instead, he hugs me for a few seconds. For a brief second, I get reminded of Tessa. He lets go and nods, and I fly to the giant building, ignoring how Beau picks up Lizzy and begins to shake her around. It seems as through it would draw a plethora of nightmares to it. 

  I crash land in the hallway and dust myself off, hesitating before moving forward. As I do, I hear a voice ringing out. The cold, mechanical sound of it fills me with dread, but I keep walking. 

  “Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping.”

  “N? N!” I call out. “N, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have-“

  Screams. Flesh tearing. 

    “Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping.”

  J standing there. Eyes an X. Holding a squirming Tessa. The claw raises. Comes down. 

  “I should have told you! I-I didn’t remember it all! I-I pro-promise! Please!”

  “Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping.”

  N. I raise the knife. Run. Cyn bares her teeth. Dodges. Laughs. Slap. Glasses go flying. I stumble. He’s still there. Cornered. She steps on them. Chuckles. Nears me. 

  “N, I’m so, so sorry! P-please!”

  “Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping.”

  The claw strikes me. 

  “Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping.”

  “I-I should have told you! She pr-promised me you’d be safe! We’d be safe!”

  She crawls over. Begins ripping casing off. Laughs. Oil gushes. My hand reaches out. Stepped on. Bitten. 

  “Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping.”

  I scream as the pain radiates. 

  “Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping. Callback ping.”

  Stumbling, I look up to see N at the end of the hallway and gasp. “N! God, I’m so fucking sorry! I should have told you! I-“

  “V, STOP!” 

  Not N. 

  Silence. 

  Hundreds of hands swarm us, pulling N out of his hiding spot. Cyn steps out of the shadows and…..rips his heart out. I stagger backwards. Cyn turns to look at me. 

  The drone’s eyes widen in fear. I step back again. She leans on her sword, tail curling around her legs. I watch as she approaches. "C-Cyn, I-I can st-still......"

  “Do your job, and I will leave you and N alone,” Cyn says. The scared drone nods. The host makes a snipping gesture, plunging the little group into darkness. “Bad job, V.”
 

  A whimper escapes me. Cyn takes a step. The girl turns and flees. Her eyes are thin rings, and her wings shake as she nearly crashes into the doorway. She’s met with the blow from her former leader, and she crashes into the ground. 

  V looks up as Cyn throws N’s body at her. She scrambles to grab him, cradling him on her lap. She watches as Cyn lifts his heart to her mouth, biting down. 

  “I will not discard you. He would not appreciate it. You are quite lucky. I will not put you in time out, Big Sister.”

  Hands ghost over my body, wrenching parts of me away. She laughs and picks up a saw, placing it over my leg. 

  
  “You are my cute pet. You will not deal with humans any more.”

  I stare at my reflection, shoulders shaking. 

  This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me. This isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me isn’t me

  “Go—fu—d—mit!”

  Blinking, I stare at Cyn as N’s heart rushes back to his body. At the same time, I hear Khan let out a triumphant laugh. N’s eyes open, and I hug him tightly. He hugs me back, and I let out a small sob. 

  He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead. He’s not dead!

  Cyn moves towards us, and a shadow passes overhead as J joins her. Our former leader glares at us and fires a missile. It streaks towards us, and N scrambles to cover me, his wings flaring out. 

  The missile explodes. 

  Elsewhere?

  “Hey! No one can traumatize these weirdly hot robots except me!” 

  N closes his wings, staggering and falling back beside me. Uzi stands before us, her Solver acting as a shield. She looks at us, at me, and nods. 

  “Glad you’re not dead or whatever,” she mumbles, giving me a soft smile. I let out a choked laugh and smile right back at her. She faces Cyn again. The host twitches her fingers, but Uzi simply snorts. Cyn’s eye flashes purple, and she looks shocked. “Sorry, just me in here. I think dumb things are frickin’ cool, and I AM FREE!” 

  A pickaxe comes streaming down, and a woman’s voice calls out, “Kick her butt, babe!” 

  N and I share a glance, hold each other’s hands, and stand up. He grabs Uzi’s free hand, and they smile at one another. 

  Cyn tilts her head as if curious and says one word. “‘Kay.”

Chapter Text

  Something drops down, and music begins to play. N shoots bullets into the grounds, kicking up a heavy cloud of dirt. I slink around to meet J, and Uzi and Cyn throw NULL circles at each other. Flashes of purple and yellow light cut through the clouds, and I lock eyes with J. 

“As she waits at dawn
Looking for a way 
To escape her lonely heart.”

  Cyn brings out Tessa’s sword and swings it at Uzi, and I flare my wings and launch myself at J. She rolls her eyes but fires at me, and I begin to giggle. Panic flashes over her visor, and I wave before shooting a missile at her. Her jaw drops, and it hits her directly in her mouth. 

“Let them swallow you!”

  She always had the lowest body count. 

“I won’t fall down
You need me!
We don’t follow crowds 
We mold them new!”

  N and Uzi rush Cyn, and I strike at J. She twists in the air and attempts to return her boss’s side like the pathetic lap dog she is, but I grab her and throw her in the way of Cyn’s blade. 

“I’m not done
Believe me!“

  She can only wave sheepishly before the hit decapitates her, and Uzi uses a railgun to send it flying directly at her boss. Cyn goes sailing backwards, and her hands scrabble at the rocks for purchase. 

“We won’t settle down
We’ll make them move!
Make them mine!”

  J’s body goes rocketing down into the abyss, and I mockingly salute her. Hands grab me, making me scream, and I lash out with my tail. Cyn digs her heels into the ground, laughing as bloody oil streaks down her cheek. My swords shoot out, and I hack away at the tendrils holding me in place. She lets out an animalistic shriek and jumps away, her body flickering yellow. I lose track of her, but that doesn’t matter because a shadow passes overhead. 

“I won’t let them
I repent them, I won’t let them!”

  
  N grabs my hand and throws me at the figure, and we hit a tree. J hisses at me, and I snarl right back. I stab her throat and slash her chassis, tearing her clothes. She shoves me away, sending me back onto the battlefield. 

“Swallow you!”

  Uzi looks at the teleporting Cyn, and she steps on a pickaxe to catch it. Her eyes shift a mile a minute as she waits for an opening. There! She swings and-

“I won’t let them!”

  Strikes N. 

“Swallow you.”

  He looks up at her, horrified and confused, and he coughs up oil. 

  “N?! I’m so sorry!” Uzi reaches her hand out to touch his face. 

  I look around, and I lock eyes with him. A nod. His foot smashes into Cyn’s visor, and the little drone goes flying back. Her tentacles catch her, and she sprints at us on all fours like a rabid dog. I swiftly kick her ankle, and she goes down again. 

  

  “I dunno, I feel like we need a secret handshake or something,” N says. I roll my eyes, but the three of us smile at one another. 

  We flare our wings and take to the sky, and J barrels into me. I grab her hand and twist, and she yelps in surprise. N takes ahold of her wing and clamps down. She struggles, wrath in her eyes. 

  “Wrong team,” I say. 

  “No more tricks,” N adds. 

  She hesitates but opens fire. N shoves me out of the way, taking the majority of the bullets. I double around and fire a missile at her. J screams as it explodes, and she lands on the ground. I follow her, and N fires around us, forcing her back. I swing my swords at her, and she dodges. The blow takes off part of her twin-tail, and I laugh. 

“As it stands
You are no longer my friend
Eat my heart
Take my soul
Let it burn you!”

  I nick her chassis again, and she hisses through gritted teeth. I look her in the eye right before decapitating her again. I stomp on her head, then N touches my shoulder. Pausing, I lean into him. 

“I won’t let go!”

  We turn around and head back to Cyn. I throw myself at her, cutting her and Uzi off, and she looks up before gasping. I kick her visor, tearing her skin. A yellow band pick up a rock, but N gets in the way before it can hurt me. I give him a thumbs-up right as it hits him. 

“What’s on my mind?
Well, I’m the farthest gone you’ll find.”

  Dust covers us, and I fly up and shoot at her. She dodges every bullet as though it were easy, and I grit my teeth. 

“You should take a look inside
You should tear apart my mind.”

“Take my mind!”

  She sends her tentacles after me, and I shoot them off. She smiles up at me, and I giggle before waving mockingly at her. 

“I won’t fall down
You need me
We don’t follow crowds 
We mold them new!”

  A new tentacle slams into me. Pinning me to the scaffolding. 

“I’m not done
Believe me
We won’t settle down
We’ll make them move
We’ll make them move
Make them mine!”

“Make them miiiii-iiiiii-iiiiine!”

  She approaches, her ankle breaking and snapping back into place. She laughs and opens her mouth, running a hand down the Disassembler’s stomach. V’s eyes widen. 

  No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!

  Where are N and Uzi?

  As if on cue, Uzi rips Cyn away from me. She swings a pipe, and the sounds of the blows and sheer brutality make me wince. 

“You should let me go
I’m not worth saving!”

  I kick Cyn’s ankle again right as she bats the pipe away, then stomp on her stomach. She laughs. 

“We won’t let them know
Let them carry on
Let them swallow you.”

  N and I open fire as Cyn begins to teleport around the battlefield. Uzi looks around, and I want to draw oil. Where is she? Where is she?!

“You won’t save me too!”

  Uzi pauses and takes a deep breath. 

“We won’t let them swallow you!”

  She turns and shoves her hand out, shouting. 

“Let them swallow yoooooooooooooooooooooou!”

  Cyn stops, blinking down in shock at the hand in her chest. 

  The gunfire dies down. 

  Curling her fingers, Uzi begins to pull her hand back. 

Chapter Text

  The world goes black and white. I can’t move. N can’t move. She-

  Uzi can. She flicks her fingers, and a home opens up in the rock. Sunlight streams in, and the heart in her grip starts to melt. Screams escape it, and an odd feeling washes over me. The hole closes. She’s left holding a circle in her hand, and I can only watch as Cyn's body begins to move towards her like a living marionette. Uzi steps back, Cyn’s ankle breaks again, then the purple Worker does the very last thing I’d ever expect from her. 

  She eats the circle. 

  Just straight-up eats the thing.

  Cyn’s eyes turn into shocked emojis, and I’m sure mine match. They grow even wider when Cyn starts….to melt. 

  I watch as the drone wearing Tessa’s skin like a fucking Halloween costume melts into black sludge. Tears well up on my visor, but I can’t even cover them with my hand. What the fuck, Uzi?!

  The world reverts back to normal, and the Worker slumps to the ground. N and I immediately rush over to her, and he hugs her tight and spins her around. “UZI!” he exclaims. 

  He puts her down, and when I see her face, I gasp and rip him away, rage building. My gun is aimed at her in a heartbeat. 

  Her eyes are yellow. 

  I get ready to fire when she…..pushes the muzzle away. I train it on her again. She bats it away again, then she grabs N and examines herself in his visor. Cyn begins cackling. 

  “Oh, Hell yeah! I’m a damaged OC now!” she yells. 

  N laughs and claps, and I groan. “Yep, that’s you,” I mumble. 

  Uzi jumps up on N’s head like an excited cat, and I roll my eyes. He throws her at me, and I shriek and try to get her off. She laughs, and I can’t help it as a hiss escapes me. When she finally gets off, I see that her eyes aren’t just yellow. They’re yellow, red, and purple. 

  As the two begin recounting the battle, as my emotions build up, I slip away to have some peace and quiet. The world begins to shift, and I watch as it reconnects below me. The bands of Solver are two different shades of purple, and that voice from earlier worms it’s way into my mind. Did Uzi find her mom? I thought she was dead. Whatever. 

  By the time I reach the forest, everything is back to normal. I knock on the cabin door, and it opens after a few seconds. Rose stares at me, quartz eyes shocked. She looks behind her, back to me, then calls out, “Micah, you should see this!”

  The blond Worker walks over to us, and she steps aside. We lock eyes, and next thing I know, he’s hugging me tightly. I pat his head for his efforts, then pick him up and twirl him around. He wheezes, and I let him go. 

  “What happened?! The planet was shaking, and the sky went red! I thought you died!” he exclaims, peering up at me. Every emotion hits me at once, and I stagger in place, exhausted.

  “Can I come inside?” I ask softly, and he nods. He guides me to the couch, grabs some coolant for himself and Rose, and sits down beside me. 

  I don’t know where to begin. Where do you even start after everything that happened? Sighing, I pick a random point and go from there. The duo’s eyes widen with the story, and he places his hand on my knee when my voice breaks over the ending. 

  “Wow,” he murmurs. “So is Cyn dead now?”

  “I don’t know,” I say. “At the very least, I think the AbsoluteSolver is. It’s gone.”

  “Do you wanna stay here? The sun will probably be up in a bit,” Rose says, and I turn to look at her. She sips her strawberry coolant and shrugs. “You did just fight a lot. It’s the least we could do or whatever.”

  “I’d like that.” I give the two a small smile, and Micah squeezes my hand. 

|•|

  I can’t sleep. 

  The final sight keeps replaying in my mind. Tessa melting, dying. We can’t even bury her. Tears pour down my visor, and I hug the pillow tighter. They gave me the same room I stayed in all those years ago, and despite the familiarity, it does nothing to help. 
 

  Why Tessa? She didn’t do anything wrong. She treated Cyn like a sister, treated N and J that same way. What did I miss? 

  I creep out to the living room and sit at the kitchen table, and I stare at the pantry. My stomach rumbles, but I shake my head to clear my mind. I’m not drinking from them. I’m just not doing that. Sighing, I bury my head in my hands and close my eyes. 

  Time ticks on, so steady and peaceful. I hate it.

  “Are you okay?”

  I glance up to find Micah, and I pause before shaking my head slowly. He sits down across from me. 

  “Wanna talk about it?” he asks. 

  “I don’t know what to do,” I whisper. “Tessa’s just…..gone, and it feels like no one cares.”

  “Not even N?” Micah’s mint eyes narrow in confusion, and I nod. “I’m sure he misses her. Give him some time, okay? Do you wanna keep talking?”

  “I’m scared.” The words stun me, and my eyes widen. “I’m scared that I’m stuck like this. Cyn is gone, Earth is gone, I can’t ever go back to being a Worker, I miss my old owners even if I don’t remember them, I miss Tessa, I wish someone would listen.”

  “I’m listening, he says gently, and I’m struck by how much he reminds me of N. Well, almost. 

  My stomach rumbles, and my visor flushes. Micah chuckles and moves to be closer to me, and I frown. 

  “What are you doing?” I ask, and he gestures to his neck. I blush even harder, but I bite down and suck. He groans, but he doesn’t tell me to stop. It’s a greedy, violent feeding, one that I should know better than to do. I can feel my oil reserves filling up, and I finally stop when I have half a tank. 

  “Does that always feel so good?” Micah gives me a goofy grin, and I bury my face against his chest as my body starts shaking from it all. “Wow, hey, V, it’s okay. Come on.”

  He takes my hand and leads me to his room and onto his bed, then he turns the lights off. Little stars glow in the dark, and I feel him pulling me to lie down. I hold him. 

  I talk about J, N, Cyn, the manor, Uzi, hunting, the competitions we had. I talk about the movies and games I like, the books I read a lifetime ago, the dogs and cats I remember. I talk about the fights and things I hate, the things that scare me, everything. 

  I just talk. 

  He just listens.